April 10, 202319:29
Mayor Anselmo Rotondo has announced that he will reward high school students: “Their behavior is a signal and an example for the whole city”
A Pontecorvoin the province of Frosinone, the students of the IV Section C of the Michelangelo Buonarroti scientific high school have given up on the five-day school trip to Sicily to participate in the birthday party of a disabled classmate who has a birthday right in the period of the study trip. For the principal Lucy Cyprian “They were exceptional, they decided everything by themselves. This makes us proud as a school”. The mayor of Pontecorvo Anselm Rotondo has announced that it will reward high schoolers.
That educational trip would have been the first after two years of stoppage imposed by the pandemic. Initially, the departure date was different but due to organizational problems it was necessary to postpone it. The agency to which the institute had contacted had had to postpone the trip at the last moment: a few days. But in this way the period of the trip would have coincided with the day in which their partner would have celebrated her 18th birthday. And between the trip and her birthday they had no doubts.
The boys then communicated their decision not to go to the principal: ”
Either we all leave or none. We don’t want to leave our partner alone, she’s one of us, it’s not right to celebrate her birthday without her friends. We’ve known her for four years and we love her.”
The reactions – An applause for their behavior came from the Minister for Disabilities
Alessandra Locatelli: “They have shown great sensitivity and I believe that our young people can be a positive example for many adults too. Congratulations to the kids but also to the school and families”, he observed.
“It is the sign that our work as educators is working, the kids have shown a strong sense of maturity”, added the principal. A close-knit class, made up of students aged between 17 and 18: all of the district, they have been sharing their desks and teachers for four years, almost all of them have been together since the beginning of their experience with the High Schools. They see each other and hang out even outside school hours, they celebrate all the important occasions together.
The high school girl would have been part of the party for Sicily if the date had remained the one initially foreseen. In recent years her disability has never been a problem, the integration has been perfect. “This choice – highlighted the principal – has even greater value if we consider that for the boys it would have been the first school trip after the two-year stop imposed by the anti-Covid restrictions. This is why we will report the episode to the Presidency of the Republic, in order to evaluate whether to recognize the IV C the prize that is attributed to the standard bearers of the Republic”.
The mother of the high school girl was moved: “They are exceptional kids, we have so much to learn from them. We can only say thank you from the bottom of our hearts”.
The City rewards them – “When the school reopens immediately after the Easter holidays, I will go to class to officially invite them to the town hall. We will receive them in the council chamber and we will give them a parchment and a plaque with which to underline their gesture of loyalty, friendship and altruism”, he said Mayor Round. “Their behavior is a signal and an example for the whole city of Pontecorvo, of which we are proud”, concluded the mayor.
