The 27th Annual Education Awards and Scholarships Celebration of the Association of Italian American Educators (AIAE) was held yesterday at the Columbus Citizens Foundation in Manhattan. In the course of the evening, the association has rewarded five figures united by different paths but united by the same goal: to strengthen the bond between Italy and the United States through school, art, research and civic engagement.
The recognition of Teacher of the Year went to Francesco D’Anna, professor of mathematics and physics with over thirty years of experience and today in service at La Scuola d’Italia in New York, where he also manages the STEM department and coordinates international exchange programs.
In his speech D’Anna told the New York experience as a personal and professional sharing: “I was lucky to win the competition and get here, entering a real family. In New York I found the enthusiasm I had in the early years of teaching.”.
He then described the relationship with students, colleagues and families as the real engine of his daily work: «I get up at six o’clock in the morning and I get to happy school. I look forward to meeting colleagues and spending the day with my students”.
“I am deeply grateful to all those who collaborate with the Italian School and our beautiful students”.
The award for art and design, the Excellence in Artistic Design Award, was awarded to Antonio Pio Saracino, architect and designer founder of APS Designs, a New York studio active in public art, architecture and interior design.
Saracino has been working for over twenty years on an international scale and his works are present in public spaces and museum collections, from the Centre Pompidou in Paris to the Brooklyn Museum. Among the best known works are The Guardians: Hero and Superhero at Bryant Park, Black Hole for Expo Milano 2015 and LIFE, installed at the NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital.
Among the various awards was the Cav. Joseph Coccia Jr. Passing the Torch Award, awarded to Josephine Belli, professor and cultural promoter for over thirty years engaged in teaching the Italian language.
The award recognizes a career built almost entirely around the idea that a language survives only if it continues to be taught, practiced and made accessible to new generations. Belli taught Italian and Italian culture in very different contexts, from universities to adult education programs, passing through public schools in New York and the management of language programs related to the Italian-American community.
During his activity he worked in institutions such as Queens College and led Italian language programs under the aegis of the IACE at the Columbus Citizens Foundation, accompanying different age and background students in the study of Italian not as a simple foreign language, but as an access tool to a shared cultural history.
In addition to teaching, Belli supported concrete initiatives for training and mobility. In memory of her son Andreas, she and her family have established a scholarship for Italian students of the Fashion Institute of Technology, offering them the opportunity to study in Florence and experience directly the link between language and territory.
His work also extended outside the classrooms, through the contribution to the development of school curricula and involvement in cultural organizations such as the Italian Heritage and Culture Month Committee. An activity that reflects a simple but central conviction: cultural continuity is not preserved by inertia, but through a network of teachers, institutions and communities capable of investing in the generational passage.
Among the winners, Francesco Bonavita, recipient of the Renaissance Award, dedicated to those who contribute to the diffusion of Italian cultural heritage through study and research.
A scholar, author and professor, Bonavita focused his academic activity on the Renaissance, on the cultural history of Rome and on the relationship between art, urbanism and Italian civilization. Formed between Italy and the United States, he taught in American universities and published studies dedicated to Italian artistic and architectural tradition.
Another of the main awards of the evening went to Francesca Costanzo Verga, awarded the Christopher Columbus Leadership Award. Medical specialist in plastic and reconstructive surgery, formed between Rome and Milan and now active in New York, Verga embodies a figure that holds together profession, leadership and cultural commitment.
In addition to the clinical activity, he is vice president and legal representative of La Scuola d’Italia Guglielmo Marconi, of which he also supports the annual gala, central appointment for fundraising and consolidation of the main Italian bilingual school of North America.
In his speech, Costanzo Verga insisted on the historical value of Italian presence in the United States and on the need to defend its cultural heritage: “We must remember who preceded us and built the foundations of what we are today. We come from a country that has given the world culture, knowledge and vision”.
He then drew attention to the role of the Italian school in New York: «The School of Italy is a fundamental project. It is the only bilingual Italian school in North America and represents something that even our community knows enough”.
L’articolo 27 years of awards for Italian culture between school, art and research proviene da IlNewyorkese.