The UWC Adriatic generation 2017-19 has concluded the educational part of its UWC experience and has now graduated! On Saturday 25 May the entire college, its patrons – the Autonomous Region Friuli Venezia Giulia and the Ministry for Foreign Affairs – the students’ families and the friends of the college gathered round the 93 students of the graduating class of 2019 to rejoice and celebrate the end of the 2018-19 academic year and their graduation.
This year’s Closing Ceremony included an award for the best students of Italian as a foreign language for the three levels taught at the college. The students who won this accolade are the following:
Ines LO SARDO ROMAN (Spain) standard level;
Amanda BARRETO SALGUEIRO (Brazil) higher level;
Hala MURAD (Syria) – ab initio.
The prize was handed over by a representative of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Ministro Plenipotenziario Stefano Queirolo Palmas and by the President of the CRTrieste Foundation Tiziana Benussi. The College’s three Italian teachers Cristina Leban, Viviana Pace (both UWC Adriatic alumnae) and Chiara Vidoni were on the stage by their students’ side.
The ceremony’s keynote speaker was Professor Mauro Giacca, outgoing Director-General of the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, currently Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine at the King’s College, London.
Before the graduation, two students nominated by their peers each delivered a speech on behalf of first and second year students – traditionally known as “primi” and “secondi” in Duino. Siham Abu Ali, (Palestine), dedicated a warm and poetic farewell speech to the graduating class, while Melos Staloja (Kosovo), encouraged all his peers – primi and secondi alike – to make haste and follow in the footsteps of the young Greta Thunberg and become changemakers for a sustainable future. You will find below the photogallery their speeches, alongside those by the Rettore Mike Price, Professor Giacca and the President of UWC Adriatic, Ambassador Cristina Ravaglia.
Thank you to Mrs. Marisol Cifuentes, mother of Maria Paula Rodriguez Cifuentes, for donating the beautiful Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS) bags from her shop in Udine AlgoNatural to this and the next graduating classes!
CREDITS:
Pictures 1-38 by Erika Burolo
