Tina and Pakis Bessias’s journey inspires scholarship at Durham Tech

It was the spring of 1983 when Tina Anderson set out to travel in Europe with a college friend. When she stepped off a train in Greece that summer, she had no particular connection to the language or people. She just wanted to work and learn about the world from another perspective.

It was a few months later that she met Pakis Bessias. They fell in love and decided he should come to North Carolina to meet her family. They applied for and received a fiancé visa that gave Pakis 90 days to marry or return to Greece.

They married at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Durham and began the next chapter of their lives. Tina began teaching English as a Second Language for Durham Tech. Pakis, with his still shaky English, took a job as a waiter at Bakatsias Cuisine.

Both knew that Pakis would need to improve his English to embark on any career. He began taking courses at Durham Tech: first English as a Second Language, then computer applications.

“I graduated from high school in Greece,” Pakis said. “Durham Tech was the perfect place for me. It was affordable and welcoming. I remember my instructors fondly. Making the President’s List increased my confidence as a student. I have lots of good memories of my time there.”

Staying in education, Tina moved on from Durham Tech, but Pakis stayed and got into the General Education program where he earned his Associate’s degree in Arts and Sciences.

“The environment was good for me. It was a smaller place with lots of international students,” Pakis said. “I graduated in June of 1987 and entered UNC, taking evening courses until I got in through regular admissions.” He applied the English and study skills strengthened at Durham Tech to his course work at UNC.

By the time Pakis graduated from UNC in 1989, he was a father. He went to work at Duke and stayed there for 36 years, most of them as the IT Manager for the Graduate School.

With his retirement, Tina and Pakis made the decision to give back to the school that had helped launch Pakis’ life in America.

“The impetus for the Bessias Family Scholarship at Durham Tech was Pakis’ retirement,” Tina said. “We had not been directly involved with Durham Tech for decades, but we knew what a foundation the college had provided us. Pakis thrived at Durham Tech. His time there was life changing.”

“Durham Tech was what I needed,” Pakis said. “It gave me a start in higher education. “I had always wanted to reconnect and say ‘I’m an alum, I can help,’” but it never quite worked out until I stopped by one day and walked into the library. Toni Brown, Executive Assistant to the President, stepped out of her office and kindly offered to help. She took me to Liz McFarlane, Durham Tech Foundation’s Director of Development, who interrupted her lunch to talk to me.”

“Their gift reflects both gratitude and long-term vision,” McFarlane said. Using money from their retirement savings, the couple endowed a scholarship to support students pursuing their own educational dreams. Their gift creates an annual $1,000 scholarship available to any Durham Tech student, with preference given to out-of-state students who may be navigating uncertainties and transitions as Pakis once did.

“This is the kind of generosity that changes lives for generations,” McFarlane said. “Their gift supports students today while also ensuring future students will continue to benefit for years to come.”

Tina said, “I’d say to the students touched by our scholarship that education can be a winding road. Not every class will be a good fit, but you can take something from each one. It can be content, relationships, skills—it’s not just the credential.”

Pakis added to that, saying, “Work hard, believe in yourself, ask for help, and you will find success. Durham Tech welcomed me when everything in my life was new. This scholarship is our way of saying thank you.”