Carlo, 17, is one of the 20 young ambassadors involved in peer training and the collaborative drafting of the first “Health Manifesto” for Programme Factor J, promoted with Janssen Italy.
Carlo, who attends the Liceo Enrico Fermi in Bologna, explains how his life changed with the health emergency. “Relations with my classmates changed for the worse during the lockdown. They were transformed from people into photographs. We exchanged cold information and there no longer was the former cheerfulness.
Before Covid, I did not go out much. I played rugby, but I didn’t really understand the importance of hanging out. Now, although I still love sports, I can’t wait to get out of the house with my friends. I do it as soon as I can.
Sometimes, I like to just stare at the sky. I like to do it while I go to school. Sometimes, I just stop and look at the sky.”
However, distance learning allowed Carlo to rediscover the role of teachers. “I noticed that my professors are very committed. For example, they worked hard to vary lessons and make them interesting. And I also saw the human side of the professors. I saw them in their homes, in more informal situations.”
One pleasant surprise related to distance learning were the educational sessions organised by Factor J: “I started following Factor J because I wanted to participate in a PCTO course, but I immediately realized that this was something altogether different. It was interesting and exciting; it addressed serious issue very agilely. I was happy to attend every meeting, not even thinking that it was course. And I continue to participate in some Factor J events.”
To date, Carlo has gathered information about Covid and the pandemic from the television, Alexa and his professors. “Much of what I know about Covid, I have learned from TV. I often ask Alexa for news, but the information is not always complete. Together with our professors we have addressed the issue of news reliability and have written essays about it. In fact, with my classmates, we often discuss about what parameters ensure news reliability. Factor J helps us with this, too. I would like to introduce some of the issues address by Factor J in the school curricula and address them through interdisciplinary sessions as we do with religion or civic education.”
