Saint Katherine Greek Orthodox Church
The mission of the Saint Katherine HEC

HEC Mission

The mission of the Saint Katherine HEC is to educate the children and adults of our community and beyond according to three key educational goals:

  1. Comprehensive teaching of the Hellenic language
  2. Instruction and exposure to the Hellenic culture, history, and heritage
  3. Education in our Greek Orthodox faith, holidays, beliefs, and teachings

Through the establishment of the HEC, we seek to become a pre-eminent Hellenic educational institution in the United States, achieving our goals through an innovative and stimulating curriculum, using traditional as well as technologically enhanced instructional methods. Student achievements are quantifiable and teaching methodologies consistent with national and internationally accepted standards for language instruction and competency. Our values are rooted in our Hellenism and Orthodoxy. We promote individual and family excellence, education, and above all, our Orthodox Christian beliefs. These values are an integral part of our culture and provide the framework for our decision-making.

In establishing an institution that offers high quality education, we have adopted standards of learning, curricula, and best practices from several key sources:

  1. Greek Orthodox Archdiocese Greek School curriculum guidelines described in “The Modern Greek Language Curriculum – Checkpoint A” [used primarily for the Greek School curriculum]
  2. Virginia state standards of learning for Early Childhood Education and Foreign Language teaching to ensure our Paideia curriculum meets/exceeds the standards set locally for other day schools and that our Greek School curriculum meets/exceeds the standards for teaching Greek as a second/foreign language
  3. Greek language curriculum and goals defined by Ellinomatheia proficiency examinations, ACTFL (American Council for Teaching Foeign Languages), and New York State Regents examinations for the instruction of Greek as a second/foreign language.