Our Mission
Fanari Academy is a non-profit Educational Institute providing Greek Language, History and Cultural Programs to Children and Adults.
Our Values
Fanari Academy is a thriving educational community that strives to be a beacon of quality education in Greek language, culture, and history for all ages. Serving the San Francisco Bay Area, this non-profit organization, founded and run by parent volunteers, is grounded in the core values of educational excellence, service, community, and inclusiveness.
Educational Excellence
Fanari’s esteemed educators are passionate about inspiring students from all backgrounds and levels to attain their desired facility with the Greek language, culture, and/or history.
Inclusiveness
All are welcome at Fanari! Inclusiveness is foundational to our belief that diversity strengthens our community and all cultures are celebrated!
Service
As a parent founded and run organization, service has been fundamental to Fanari’s values since inception. Parents and teachers all contribute time, energy, and expertise to support our students.
Community
Beyond our educational focus, Fanari believes the school community enriches the learning experience, fosters life-long connections, and is vital to engaging students and their families both in and beyond the classroom.
Why Fanari
- Independent– Founded in 2006, Fanari is a parent-run, self-funded, non-profit organization.
- Recognized – Certified by Hellenic Ministry of Education, Fanari is recognized as a ‘Greek Language Education Institute Abroad’ since 2011 (‘Φορέας Ελληνόγλωσσης Εκπαίδευσης στο Εξωτερικό’) .
- Ellinomatheia – Fanari offers a special preparatory program for students who want to pursue the ‘Ellinomatheia’ certification, that is recognized by the US and EU College and University systems.
- Team-based Learning – Fanari values in-person, team-based, and experiential learning, while offering the flexibility of a hybrid option mid-week for young students and online adult classes depending on needs.
- Modern – Two tracks, english speaking and greek speaking.
- Location – With two campuses, one in Sunnyvale and one in San Francisco proper, Fanari is uniquely situated at the vibrant and innovative community of Silicon Valley while being a seamless link with Greeks across the globe.
Our History
Fanari Academy was incorporated in 2006 by co-founders Tasos and Eva Constantin, Mel Hatzis, and Aidona Kakouros. They met after a San Francisco Film Festival event and shared a common dream of creating an independent Greek language program for families from the ‘South Bay’, which had no local options at the time.
Ms. Spiroula Rodenborn, a pillar of the local Greek community in Sunnyvale, Greek-born educator, and owner of Rainbow Montessori in Sunnyvale, generously offered her classroom space to house the initial Fanari Academy program.
The word spread to the Hellenic Republic’s San Francisco office of education, and then director Evagellos Kasvikis then encouraged the program’s launch and even arranged for a teacher sponsored by the Hellenic Ministry of Education to be assigned to the school.
An impressive 45 new students registered for classes in the Fall of 2006 when only 25 were expected.
Fanari Academy was born!
