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The Agnelli Foundation at the College

28 August 2018
Tuesday August 28th was a special day for the College, for two UWC students and a UWCAD graduate… 

On August 28th UWC Adriatic had the pleasure and the honor of a visit by John Elkann and Don Nicola and Donna Rossella Caracciolo, together with the Director of the Agnelli Foundation, Andrea Gavosto, and the President of the Foundation for the United World Colleges Stock Weinberg – Edward Sutcliffe ONLUS, Filippo Nicolis Di Robilant. On their arrival they were welcomed by the Rettore, Mike Price and by the President of the College, Ambassador Cristina Ravaglia, who greeted the distinguished guests with words of profound gratitude for the support of the Agnelli Foundation to the College.

The Agnelli Foundation, chaired by John Elkann, has been supporting the Italian branch of the UWC movement for several years, granting scholarships to Italian students who have passed the UWC selections and thereby allowing them to attend one of the 17 UWC colleges across the world. These scholarships have been instituted to honour the memory of Filippo Caracciolo, a cousin of Elkann’s and a UWC Atlantic College alumnus who passed away prematurely in 2013. The visit was therefore an opportunity for Filippo’s parents, for the widow Fabrizia Casagrande, together with their daughters Raimonda and Matilde, and for his sister, Donna Marella Caracciolo, to familiarise with the first UWC college founded in a non-Anglo-Saxon country.

“Filippo found his experience in a UWC College extraordinarily interesting,” said John Elkann.

“
Every time he came home he shared many joyful memories with us, and his two years at AC had profoundly changed his way of looking at the world. It is therefore with great conviction that the Agnelli Foundation, which is committed to contributing to the cultural, social and economic progress of Italy with research activities and innovative project initiatives in the field of education, supports an international school like UWC Adriatic and the United World Colleges Foundation
”

Every year the Duino College brings together over 90 young adults who have passed the UWC selections in their respective countries and who, thanks to scholarships, finish high school at the College. Together they study for the IB Diploma, a certifacete that will grant them access universities in 80 countries (including Italy). 70% of UWC Adriatic students benefit from scholarships (full or partial), as recommended by the educational philosophy of UWC, which makes diversity (cutural, linguistic, religious and socio-economic) a great strength in the education of the citizens of the world of tomorrow.

“The United World Colleges”, says the Rettore, 

“
make education a force to unite people, nations and cultures for peace. The key element of the educational model devised by its founder, Kurt Hahn, is indeed diversity. By bringing students from all over the world to Duino for two years, our College offers them a safe space where they can explore this diversity and develop a new vision of the world, bringing down prejudices and stereotypes. This extraordinarily life-changing experience, of living with their peers for two years in a multicultural community, is framed in the rigorous academic programme of the International Baccalaureate (IB), which focuses on academic excellence, experiential learning and the educational value of an intense programme of extracurricular activities – which involves all students in volunteering work and creative and sports activities (intende as a personal challenge rather than merely as an opportunity for competing).
”

The visit to the College brought our guests from the Agnelli Foundation to meet  all second year students in the Auditorium. After a brief introduction to the Agnelli Foundation’s many activities in the field of education, our students had the opportunity to discuss with Elkann and Gavosto several topical issues, such as the role of artificial intelligence and technology in education and in work in general, the role of education in eliminating the divisions and barriers that set people apart and the challenge of supporting immigrants in the public education system. A smaller group of 10 students (from Brazil, Canada, Malaysia, Iraq, Kosovo, South Sudan, Yemen and Italy), then continued with an informal talk with John Elkann on how they got to Duino and their one-year experience as UWC students. A meeting with three grant holders funded by the Agnelli Foundation was also arranged. The first is Nada Ladraa, a young Italian UWCAD graduate of Moroccan origins, who is about to spend a gap year in Morocco doing refugee work before going to Paris to Sciences Politiques.

“I am deeply grateful to the Agnelli Foundation for giving me this opportunity,” said Nada.

“
Before I came here I felt trapped in a fragmented world, which rejects complex identities like mine and places great distances between people and labels them according to stereotypes that bury the human essence of people. By attending UWC Adriatic, however, I saw all of this vanish at once and I discovered how much trust and love can illuminate our lives when we look at ourselves only as human beings
”

Along with Nada, Nicola De Angelis, from San Giorgio a Liri, a second-year student at UWC USA and Yasmine Khali, a first-year student from Morocco, were thrilled to have the opportunity to meet their donors  and thank the Agnelli Foundation.