President’s Message

June 2026

Dear Members,

It has been my genuine pleasure to serve as President of the Hellenic University Club of Philadelphia for the last two years. As President, and as a Board member since 2020, I was given the rare opportunity to give back an organization whose mission touched my own life. Not long ago I was awarded three HUC scholarships: the Cyprus Society of Greater Philadelphia Scholarship and, twice, the John S. Manos, Esq. Memorial Graduate Scholarship. The generosity behind those awards materially impacted the trajectory of my education and professional career, and fueled my decision to join HUC’s Board. My story is only one example of how a scholarship can change a life.

I want to use my last President’s Letter as a call to action to our members and to Philadelphia’s Greek-American community: donate to HUC today. The gift of scholarship is a rare gift that has a lifelong impact on both the student and everyone they go on to serve in their profession. Your gift will reach far beyond a single recipient, and it will be carefully stewarded for years to come by the Scholarship Awards Committee and the Scholarship Investment Fund Committee. There are several ways to give:

  • Join the Centennial Circle. Launched this year to celebrate the Club’s 90th Anniversary, the Centennial Circle aims to collect 100 donations of at least $1,000 as we look towards our Centennial celebration in 2036. Your contribution to the Centennial Circle earns you a permanent place in Club history.

  • Donate directly to the Scholarship Fund. The Fund accepts all forms of direct donation, including donations of appreciated investments which may carry tax advantages.

  • Add HUC to your estate planning documents. Many members’ generosity lives on because they specifically remembered HUC in their estate.

  • Create a named scholarship in memory of your loved ones. Your family’s legacy will live on in every student who receives the award, and in the lives they touch in turn. 

Before you give, please contact your legal and tax professionals to confirm how your gift may carry tax and estate planning advantages.

I want to thank the dozens of people I served alongside over the years – volunteers who spent their hard-eared time, talent, and treasure to strengthen the Club and prepare it for continued success over the next 90 years and beyond.

It is my pleasure to announce the new Board of the Hellenic University Club of Philadelphia, led by our incoming President, Panagiotis A. Chrisanthopoulos.

Finally, I owe an enormous debt of gratitude to my parents, Stavros and Eleni Antonakakis, who taught me that lifelong education neither begins nor ends in the classroom, but in our everyday relationships with others and interactions with the world around us – by staying intensely curious, having an unsatiable hunger for knowledge, being outrageously generous, and constantly learning, building, and improving to be the sharpest, best version of ourselves. This is true paideia.

Sincerely,

Joseph C. Antonakakis

Immediate Past President