April 28 at our college was marked by the celebrations for the graduation of the Class of 2021
On Wednesday 28 April at 3:00 pm our community gathered for the Closing Ceremony of the 2020-21 Academic Year and to celebrate the Graduating Class of 2021: 88 students from 55 countries who have now completed their UWC experience here in Duino after two academic years marked by the coronavirus pandemic.
As pointed out by the President of the College, Ambassador Cristina Ravaglia, we would have loved to open the College doors – as we usually do – to the families of our students and the friends and supporters of the College. However, owing to travelling restrictions and social distancing requirements the ceremony could only be attended by the members of our community, with external participants viewing the event live through the College website and social media channels.
Yet the warmth of College’s supporters and friends did not fail to enfold our community, even from afar. The Mayor of Duino Aurisina, Daniela Pallotta, sent her warmest wishes in a video. Moreover, after an unavoidable interruption in 2020, the Italian Ministry for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation and the Fondazione CRTrieste supported once again the awards for the best students of the College’s courses of Italian as a second language, which went to Marika Cebula (Denmark) for Higher Level, Adele Lo (Hong Kong) for Standard Level and Anna Farley (Canada) for the Ab Initio course. Councilor Simona Battiloro, representing the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, and Tiziana Benussi, President of the Fondazione CRTrieste, also sent videos with kind words of appreciation for the College, where all students study Italian throughout their two-years in Duino.
The ceremony ended with the words addressed to the graduating class by Teresa Pappalardo, representing first-years, and Michele Vitalone – a graduating student himself. Their speeches confirmed the fact that – despite all the difficulties and sacrifices that have marked the past two years – the 2019-21 UWC Adriatic cohort can be both proud and grateful. Proud of having had a genuine UWC experience notwithstanding the limitations and restrictions, and grateful for having spent this year together, attending classes with peers and teachers – with only 8 days of online learning in all, as mentioned by Rettore William Turner in his address.
Their UWC experience did not include many of the enjoyable elements that previous cohorts benefited from but has been no less significant and lifechanging. In the words of our Rettore, the college community wishes them all the best in this new chapter of their lives hoping that they may “can continue to fly the UWC flag, keep our values close to your hearts, share with others the benefits of those values and try to make the world a better place”.
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