A Partner's Reflection: Celebrating Greece's First US Diploma Graduate

Hudson Global Scholar: Maria Papasavva 

Hudson Global Scholars program: Columbia School Full-Time American Diploma Program 

Home: Greece

Celebrating Maria Papasavva: Our First Columbia School Graduate

By Rania Angelis*

It is with immense joy and pride that we celebrate a milestone for our school community: the graduation of our first Columbia School student, Maria Papasavva. Maria, who is also a student at Rodion Paideia, has successfully completed the full American High School Diploma through Columbia School, part of Hudson Global Scholars, earning excellent grades and opening the door to an exciting next chapter.

A Meaningful Achievement

Maria’s achievement is meaningful not only because it represents academic success, but because it demonstrates what is possible when a student combines ambition with consistency. Completing an American diploma alongside a demanding local school schedule requires discipline, planning, and sustained effort over time. Maria approached this journey with maturity well beyond her years. She stayed organized, worked steadily, and often completed assignments well ahead of deadlines, a clear sign of strong time management and ownership of her learning.

Academically, Maria excelled across a range of subjects, including English Literature, Algebra, Digital Media, and Spanish. Her performance reflected more than just high grades; it showed intellectual confidence and momentum—an ability to keep pushing forward, to improve with feedback, and to perform consistently.

Inspiring Others Beyond Academics

Just as notable as her academic record is Maria’s character. She is kind, considerate, and consistently optimistic. She naturally supports others and brings calm, positive energy to every learning environment. She is the type of student who strengthens a community not by seeking attention, but by being reliable, generous, and present.

Outside the classroom, Maria’s discipline is equally inspiring. She is also a CrossFit athlete, earning awards in national and international competitions. Balancing high-level training with rigorous coursework requires physical stamina and mental toughness, and Maria has proven she has both. The habits that make great athletes—consistency, resilience, focus—have clearly supported her academic success as well.

Maria’s story is also one of remarkable strength. In her early teens, she faced the profound loss of her mother and the challenge of moving from Australia to Greece. Although she experienced real hardship when she first arrived, she did not simply adapt; she thrived. She remained engaged, actively participated in school life, and consistently demonstrated generosity and community spirit, always ready to contribute and help others.

Top-Choice University Acceptance in Spain

Today, that perseverance has been rewarded in a way that makes us especially proud: Maria has been accepted to her first-choice university in Spain, IE University.

IE University is known for its top-ranked business programs and distinctly international environment. It hosts over 10,000 students from 160 countries and offers study locations in Madrid and Segovia—an ideal setting designed for globally minded students seeking diverse, high-performing classrooms. It is also a university that evaluates applicants from a wide range of educational systems and explicitly recognizes qualifications, including the Hudson Global Scholars American High School Diploma from Columbia School. This matters because Maria’s Columbia School transcript did not need “translation” or lengthy interpretation. It communicated rigor clearly, in a format global admissions teams can immediately understand.

IE’s global reputation is also reinforced by the broader IE ecosystem and its alumni community—particularly through IE Business School, which has produced founders and executives who have built high-impact international careers. For example, Meinrad Spenger (telecom executive, associated with MásMóvil/MasOrange) and Bernhard Niesner (co-founder of the language-learning platform Busuu) are both highlighted in IE alumni profiles as graduates of IE Business School’s MBA pathway. Leaders such as Isabel Aguilera (noted for senior executive leadership roles in Spain, including at Google Iberia, as noted in various bios) have also been described as holding an MBA from IE Business School. Mentioning this is not about fame—it’s about showing students like Maria what IE represents: a truly international academic environment connected to a network of ambitious people building across industries and countries. And for families who also want transparency around planning and cost, IE publicly posts undergraduate tuition information for the 2026–2027 academic year, listing many bachelor's programs.

A Valuable American High School Experience

In many ways, Maria’s acceptance highlights the deeper value of the Columbia School experience. The program doesn’t simply award a diploma; it builds a solid academic foundation through structured coursework, ongoing assessment, and consistent expectations—exactly the kind of preparation universities like IE look for when selecting students who can thrive in an international, English-speaking academic environment. 

Maria’s graduation is a celebration of excellence, but also of resilience. It reflects what can happen when a student chooses not to be defined by obstacles, but instead builds a future through daily effort, strong values, and unwavering determination.

Maria, we commend you on your well-deserved success and wish you the very best in your future studies at IE University. We can’t wait to see all that you will accomplish next.

A heartfelt congratulations, Maria! We are so proud of you.

*Rania Angelis is an English Language Teacher and Columbia School Program Coordinator at Rodion Paideia School in Rhodes, Greece.