At UWC Adriatic, even those who never met her in person know for sure that the Duinese Hazel Marie Cole was kindly observant and a generous soul. A woman capable of gauging the needs of others and doing all she could to meet them: like offering warm clothes to young people arriving in Duino to study at the College from distant countries, with garments that were totally inadequate for the bora and the chilly Duino winter season.
The Hazel Marie Cole Acts of Goodness Award – created by her family, friends and, in particular by Hazel’s widower, Mr. Aldo Pianciamore – continues Hazel’s attentive and generous legacy, awarding prizes in three different areas: acts of kindness in elementary and middle schools; recognition for those who take care of non self-sufficient people and, finally, donations to deserving students of UWC Adriatic coming from disadvantaged backgrounds.
This year’s awarding ceremony took place on November 17 at 11 am at our College, when Dr. Aldo Pianciamore and his daughter Donatella, President of the Association Premio alla Bontà Hazel Marie Cole ONLUS, presented the Award to 16 students, from Palestine, Iraq, Egypt, India, Tibet, Tanzania, Swaziland, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Lebanon, Iran, Cambodia, Tunisia, Kosovo, Albania and South Sudan.
“The spirit of this initiative, launched many years ago with the then Rettore David Sutcliffe, is to perpetuate the acts of kindness by my wife Hazel, which she also made in the name of the very same values of empathy and solidarity in which the UWC educational model is grounded in,” said Dr. Pianciamore during the ceremony. And if receiving an award is always a pleasure, it is all the more so when it can have a tangible effect on one’s daily life. The students in question received pocket money that they will be able to use throughout this academic year in order to make their time in Duino that much more enjoyable.
