Virginia Pourakis, George Boulukos & Fr. Nicholas Margoulis,
at The Cathedral of St. Paul's, Hempstead, NY

The Eastern Orthodox Committee on Scouting [EOCS] Scholarship Committee has announced the recipient of the ninth annual national scholarship. The winner is Virginia Pourakis, Stewart Manor, New York and a member of Girl Scout troop 1079, which is sponsored by the Greek Orthodox Cathedral of Saint Paul, Hempstead, New York. She was selected from a large pool of applicants from throughout the United States.

The EOCS Scholarship program is offered to high school Boy and Girl Scouts seniors of the Eastern Orthodox Christian Church. The committee evaluates the candidates using the following criteria; [1] be a registered active member of a Boy or Girl Scout unit, [2] have earned the Eagle Scout Award for boys or the Gold Award for girls, [3] be an active member of an Eastern Orthodox Christian Church and have earned the Alpha Omega Scouting Religious Award, [4] have demonstrated practical citizenship in their church, high school, scouting unit, and in their community, [5] scholastic achievement. The scholarship is made possible by the EOCS Scholarship Endowment Fund.

Virginia has been a member for 12 years in her church’s Girl Scout program and has held many leadership positions and received a number of awards. She earned the Chi-Rho and Alpha Omega Religious Scout Awards, the Girl Scout Silver and the Gold Award and attended numerous EOCS Scout Retreats and enjoyed summer Girl Scout camping.

In addition to her involvement in her church scouting program, Virginia was extremely active in her religious community as a member of the junior choir, Sunday School teacher, an officer of G.O.Y.A., basketball, and a volunteer in the church Grecian Festival for a number years. She also participated in the lonian Village summer program and the Camp Nazareth of the Pittsburgh Diocese.

While in high school she was extremely active in many organizations and programs where she received numerous awards and recognitions. Virginia ranked first in her high school graduating class, class President for two years, National Honor Society, editor of school newspaper, Vice President of the Key Club, President of Mathletes, played in the school band and orchestra, performed in school plays and musicals, just to mention a few of her numerous activities. In addition she won the following awards, Newsday Journalism Award, Lion’s Essay Contest, Regional Science Olympiad medal, Xerox Award, Science Olympiad Award, NYS Women’s Club Award for poetry, and Baush & Lomb Science Award, a sampling of her long list of awards.