Hathaway Brown School News

Katherine Poseidon always knew she wanted to live abroad. A 2007 graduate of Hathaway Brown, Poseidon took a life-changing trip to London with her parents when she was in ninth grade. From that point on, she decided that she would like to move to the United Kingdom upon on her high school graduation. 

"Although I was unsure of what the process entailed, (Director of College Counseling) Dr. Terry McCue made it her mission to do everything she could to support me," Poseidon says.

She wound up being accepted to Trinity College, Cambridge, where she spent the next four years first studying History, then changing her focus to Middle Eastern Studies. In June 2011, Poseidon moved from Cambridge to Athens, Greece, where she is now a Teaching Fellow at Athens College. In that capacity, she divides her time between teaching English to Middle Schoolers and advising university applicants in the UK Collge Counselling Office. Additionally, she teaches an SAT-prep class and assists with the school's Forensics Team, especially in the area of debate.

From her home in Athens, Poseidon has a front-row seat to the drama surrounding the current Greek debt crisis and class-welfare turmoil. She has seen violent protests and has comforted friends who fear for their children's future. Throughout it all, she's kept a powerful blog: A Poseidon Adventure. Additionally, she maintains Athens Photo-A-Day, "an attempt to bring colour and life to a city in the midst of uncertainty." Her images, insights, and observations are intriguing, inspiring, and informative, and she deftly sheds light on the problems from the perspective of a young optimist. 

In many ways, Poseidon considers Athens her true home. When she came to the country, she says, "I felt like I was entering an environment I already belonged in." Her father is a native of Athens. He and many other relatives are alumni of Athens College, and Poseidon's aunt taught at the school for three decades.

"The longer I've been here, the closer I've come to both the school and the country," Poseidon says. "The warmth of the people - my colleagues, family, and friends - is overwhelming, despite the difficulties this country faces."

Recently, Poseidon has gained international media attention for her writing and photography. A moving Letter to the Editor that sprang from her blog post "Eat the Rich - My Take on the Greek Crisis, and the Case for the Defense" was published by The Guardian on February 13 (Poseidon's letter is the second in the online list.) And the photographs she took to document the aftermath of a February 12 riot in Athens were used in a special CNN online report. 

Despite all the trouble and pain that she and her countrymen recently have experienced, Poseidon still believes in the strength and power of the Greek people. She has no immediate plans to return to the States, but when she does, Poseidon says she will make time to visit her alma mater in Shaker Heights. "I really feel like I owe a lot to HB and I would love to share my experiences," she says.