The Istituto comprensivo Via Poppea Sabina entitled to Piero Angela.
It’s another important step towards the goal of becoming a civic centre for the entire community. By entitling the Istituto comprensivo Via Poppea Sabina to Piero Angela, one of the strategic hubs of the three-year Smart & Heart Rome Programme, the school has made a firm civic and cultural commitment, drawing inspiration from the pioneer of scientific communication, who was capable of making the complexity of our time comprehensible to everyone.
In her speech, School Director Stefania Forte recalled how the school has always been considered a place of aggregation. “Collaboration with local associations has always been strong, responding to the principle of subsidiarity, article 118 of our Constitution. We started with 600 students and today we have 800. This school is the community, the community is the school. The dedication to Piero Angela reflects the spirit of the school: to help understand the talent and potential of our students, to provide opportunities to those living in the suburbs. Our slogan is “The centre is where we are”. The centre is where the Piero Angela comprehensive institute is. Naming the school after the pioneer of dissemination fully reflects the school’s vocation. He brought us closer to the complexity of knowledge, transforming the way we see the world. Today, the school embraces its identity, remembering the past and looking to the future.”
The Fondazione Mondo Digitale, represented by Marta Pietrelli, also participated in the ceremony, which received the patronage of the European Union. The school was presented with a plaque created in the digital manufacturing lab of the Innovation Gym.
“Piero Angela was a true maestro and demonstrated that great goals can be achieved with culture and knowledge. To do this we need the community,” points out Svetlana Celli, President of the Capitoline Assembly.
Marco Zela, External Relations and Corporate Communications Director at Rai, shared a personal memory: “Piero Angela was a great jazz musician, an excellent pianist. When I met him, he knew he was seriously ill, but he wanted to make a jazz record. I was tasked with making this wish come true. Piero Angela started playing with a smile that I will never forget. He knew he was about to depart and yet he was happy to be doing what he loved with meticulous attention. He said in front of the camera that he was on the side of the audience, but while preparing the broadcast he was on the scientists' side. His love for knowledge was so immeasurable that he managed to share it in an extraordinary way for over 70 years.”
“Piero Angela taught us that there are no differences in culture: arts, literature, sciences. And this must be an example: the ability to make complicated things seem simple. This is an example for teachers. Simplify as much as possible, don't minimize. This will make the approach of students always higher. An increasingly human approach to study and science,” underlined Luciano Chiappetta, Director of School Personnel at the Ministry of Education.
After the ceremony, the students returned to their classrooms to carry out scientific laboratory activities and the adults (parents, institutions, authorities, school staff and school guests) moved to the auditorium for a musical tribute to Piero Angela.
One of the best Rai reports on the Innovation Gym was produced by a SuperQuark crew directed by Piero Angela. Take a look!
The SuperQuark report was broadcast on August 13, 2015 in the SuperQuark "School and Society" column.
