“Factor J was hard, but worth it. Last year, I had to manage the 50 students who signed up for the project. However, it was worth it because the sessions I attended helped me understand certain things. At my age, one encounters illness in friends and relatives. What I can say is that before Factor J, when I faced suffering, I might have not known how to react, how to empathise with the ill. I never felt I was doing it right. Now, I certainly have more tools to understand how to act and think in certain situations.”
Laura Pezzi, who teaches at IIS Enrico Fermi in Arona (Novara), coordinated classes for the sessions organised by Factor J, the project promoted with Janssen Italia, increase the young generations’ trust in science, raise awareness on the importance of correct scientific information and the choice of responsible behaviour for everyone’s wellbeing and health. The professor also closely followed Valeria, a seventeen-year-old student with a congenital pathology that makes it different for her to express herself. To everyone’s great surprise, Valeria mustered the courage to speak in public. She felt understood and listened to. And a short excerpt of this is contained in the final video produced for the first edition of the project.
“I experienced the entire course with Valeria and believe that the distinctive element of the course can be summarised in one word: empathy. The students understood how one can and should react to illness. The atmosphere in Valeria’s class changed completely. Thanks to Factor J, she emerged and was able to reveal her qualities. And her classmates took notice. They recognised her as a student who was fully capable of addressing complex issues.”
And all the other students also participated actively in the meetings that the professor praised as having the strength of “clarity.”
“Every time there is a Factor J course, students have been silent, attentive and participated actively. And I’m sure that all of the students who participated in the webinars and courses did so with pleasure and attention. They were all involved from an emotional point of view.”
The page of the school website dedicated to Project Factor J and Valeria
