A car door opens and a girl wrapped in a long pink dress gets out. She takes her cell phone out of her purse and calls her friends: “Where are you?” A little further on, a couple has arrived on a moped: he with a tuxedo and full-face helmet under his arm, she, dressed in black, asks her boyfriend if she looks better with her hair down or tied up. Between chatter and a subtle click of heels (strictly not stilettos, so as not to damage the floor of the gymnasium) they head towards the red gate of via Corridoni, to participate in the prom of the Orazio Grassi scientific high school, the first in Savona.
Crossing the threshold, the usually austere Grassi courtyard is unrecognizable: the boys have taken care of the decorations since the sound of the last bell on Thursday, assembling the day before, with the help of an electrician, wires of warm lights that go from apart from the building. There is the souvenir photo station (with a student tasked with shooting from a camera mounted on a tripod). There is a buffet for the students and that of the teachers who help the head teacher, Daniela Ferraro, in the supervisory service: about twenty teachers have joined, about one for every 15 students. There is a large billboard where you can sign your signature, while large golden balloons form the words “Prom 2023” at the entrance to the gym, where some LEDs project a blue light on the ceiling and a DJ shoots a playlist made by the boys into the speakers.
The party was strongly desired by the institute representatives Filippo Galleano (VA), Emanuele Autano (VA), Giuseppe Orsi (VF) and Martina Bavazzano (IV H). Since the beginning of the school year, they have proposed their idea to the manager Daniela Ferraro, who, although not without some concern and courageously taking a risk, approved. “I have been a school manager for three years and since then I have been trying to realize my idea of a school, a school closer to the students, more open”, explains the manager Ferraro. «I think it is important, especially after the years of the pandemic, to create a warmer climate, conducive to relationships. We hope that this initiative will strengthen the sense of friendship, sealing the end of a journey but paving the way for other extraordinary events like this one”.
It is the first time that a real prom has taken place in Savona within the school walls. The credit goes all to the kids, who organized a fundraiser among themselves to finance themselves, and to a school manager in step with the times. «We spoke to the manager at the beginning of the year asking if it was possible. She answered yes, explaining that, however, we had to organize ourselves well. Our goal was to create a sense of community in the school, which is not just a study environment», explains one of the school representatives, Filippo Galleano.
“The initiative was designed to say goodbye to those in fifth grade who are leaving,” adds Giuseppe Orsi. Even if it was then opened to third, fourth and fifth grade students, with the possibility of inviting a classmate from the first two-year class. However, reserved for high school students, with a strict check of identity documents at the entrance. Another representative, Emanuele Autano, also tells of having drawn inspiration from the direct experience of a prom in America: «Last year I did a semester in Tennessee, but this is almost better than the American one», jokes Emanuele.
After having nibbled on something from the buffet in the courtyard, the party continues in the gym, where the playlist ranges from Annalisa to Ricchi e Poveri. Between little trains and group dances (and some teachers who hint at dance moves, because it’s a party for them too), the evening ends at 11pm with the inevitable “Night before the exams” by Antonello Venditti who, at the lighthearted of the school year, adds a little melancholy for a period of one’s life that is ending.