The first year of the project, developed by the Pinardi Employment Area in collaboration with Radio Ecca, closes with the online promotion ceremony for the 10 students of the "Pinardi Educational Second Chance School."
In a very moving online ceremony, the boys, girls, educators and guests attended this moment of recognition and celebration in which they recalled the three semesters, the different academic and recreational activities that they carried out in a group and how the lockdown affected them in the last few months of study.
The Pinardi School of Educational Second Chance was the turning point for David, one of the students of the program who had already participated in the "First Professional Experience" program. After receiving training at the UPS logistics company, he realized "that without the diploma nothing's possible, one must have at least that to be able to aspire to a better future."
Among the other students there is Ivan: after many unsuccessful attempts, he managed to obtain a high school diploma, combining study with work. Lucía is another young student who will not continue the project next year because she graduated.
Gratitude, recognition and much enthusiasm for the work done since September is what the educators who accompanied these young people day by day emphasized. As Don Bosco said: “Education is a thing of the heart. We really experienced it during this course."
The educators were the point of reference for the great majority of young people, and have accompanied them to the promotion ceremony, much-awaited for and dreamed of, in some cases, for 12 years.
After this first pilot experience, the methodological model of the "Pinardi School of Second Educational Opportunity" will be replicated in the Salesian Social Platforms of Puertollano, Puerta del Sol and Alcalá de Henares, allowing more young people to feel protagonists of their own development and to return to study.
