“Either we all leave, or nobody. We don’t want to leave our partner alone, she’s one of us, it’s not right to celebrate her birthday without her friends. We’ve known her for four years and we love her.” The students of the IV Section C of the Michelangelo Buonarroti Scientific High School in Pontecorvo, in the province of Frosinone, have decided to give up the five-day school trip to Sicily, to participate in the birthday of their disabled companion who could not have gone with them. After a two-year stop for school trips due to the pandemic restrictions, the students have decided to give up on them again this year, informing the high school principal, Lucia Cipriano, that they would prefer to be together with their disabled classmate. A study trip that was postponed for organizational reasons, overlapping the days in which the disabled student had already organized the party for her 18th birthday. A motivation that surprised the director of the institute, but also made her “proud”: “They are exceptional, they decided everything by themselves: they got together, talked and established that that was the right thing to do”. And the principal of the Liceo Buonarroti then added: «It is the sign that our work as educators is working, the kids have shown a strong sense of maturity. This, as a school, makes us proud». And so, the principal announced that she will report the case to the staff of the President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella, to have them evaluate whether to assign the class the recognition of Alfieri della Repubblica, or in any case recognition for the sensitivity, maturity and concrete solidarity shown in the comparisons with the classmate.
“Either we all leave, or nobody.” So the students gave up the trip to Sicily so as not to miss the birthday of their disabled partner
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