Alexandros Papadakis is a member of the Paralympic team and an example of a student – His journey from the village of Psathades to Thessaloniki and his thirst for learning
The history and course of the 55-year-old Alexandrou Papadakis from Diavata Thessaloniki is a monument of inexhaustible strength and will, it says voria.gr.
Since childhood he has been confined to a wheelchair due to severe cerebral palsy, able to move only his hands. But this did not prevent him from fighting in life and with the strength of his hands he began to deal with paralympic sport Boccia managing to become a champion and an integral member of the National Paralympic Team from 2009 to the present taking titles and awards.
Mr. Papadakis who was born in the village of Psathades Didymoteicho moved many years ago with his parents to Diavata Thessaloniki. In his suitcase at that time he had the diploma of the Primary School of the small rural village.
The years passed without him progressing to another level in his education until one day in 2015 a friend of his motivated him to go with him to the Second Chance School of Delta Municipality. “Everything I’ve done in my life is almost all by chance, although I don’t believe in luck,” Mr. Papadakis said with a smile to voria.gr.
Despite his initial negative thoughts regarding age as he was then 49 years old he eventually went to Second chance School and after two years he got the high school diploma which is equivalent to the high school diploma.
This diploma further unlocked his appetite to continue his studies and without a second thought he enrolled in 2017, as Mr. Papadakis said, in the 2nd EEL Echedorou, while the following year he continued his studies in the Evening GEL in Vineyards of Thessaloniki from which he graduated in the 2019-2020 school year with an overall grade of “Excellent” 19.4.
“As a disabled person, I applied for university with my first choice being the Faculty of Psychology and finally switched to my second choice which was Philosophy-Pedagogy at AUTH. I had said I would go for a semester and drop out. Finally I went and stayed and now I will be in the 5th semester. I have passed 25 of the 28 courses and I have another 20 courses left for the degree” said Mr. Papadakis who aims to get his degree in four years and not use the right to extend his studies by two additional years.
However, Alexandros Papadakis’ dreams do not stop here and as he says, after his degree he aims to continue his studies through a postgraduate program of his school that will combine sports and psychology.
Apart from the period of the corona virus pandemic and the quarantine when all the students were outside the auditoriums and auditoriums of AUTH, Mr. Papadakis – like the other students – now participates and attends his courses for life and as he said in the old Philosophy building there is a special elevator for the disabled with the only sign that “the janitor who comes to help me in the elevator is also in charge of two other buildings so sometimes I wait for him to come and many times I miss the first 20 minutes of the lesson”.
Mr. Papadakis, however, alongside his studies, actively continues his participation in Boccia competitions and as a Panhellenic champion of the Paralympic sport, he has won 17 individual and team championships, 7 silver and 2 bronze medals, while with the National team he has taken part in 23 events: in the London 2012 Paralympics, in 5 World and 8 European championships and cups and in other international events with 2 European medals and many other placings with the highest 7th place (out of 65 athletes) in the World Championships in Lisbon 2010 4th place in the 2011 Norwegian Hammar European Cup and last Fall 5th place in the 2021 European Championship in Seville, Spain.
Today we even found him packing his bags as tomorrow morning he leaves for the Netherlands in order to participate in an important Paralympic sport tournament with the national team, while his goal is, as he said, “the Paralympic Games in Paris in 2024”.
The ancient Greeks used to say that “good efforts are acquired” and Alexandros Papadakis knows this very well. “I want to tell all children with disabilities to try to conquer their dreams. Even if they don’t succeed, they will have the joy of trying,” he said.
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