Author: Alessandro Fumagalli (PCTO)
Subcommittee: High School
Date: 25.05.2023
Translated by: M’gayedi Sonia
It is with these original but effective words that the student Benedetta Gardin of the Liceo Beccaria defined the meetings of STEPPO PCTO. Having listened to and been able to ask questions to magistrates, lawyers, accountants, financiers, customs officials, 
university professors and writers, was in fact a way to deepen the issues, but at the same time an honour, a unique exclusivity to relate to quality speakers.
This and other considerations emerged in the verification call that was held on Monday 22 May with 20 PCTO representatives of the 26 schools involved in the project, all absent justified by simultaneous school commitments. On this occasion, the observation of some of the 153 students who regularly attended were reported and the teachers were able to present their evaluation.
Another student, Alessandro Colombo of the Liceo Don Bosco in Treviglio, reiterated that “it was very nice that during the lessons you were surrounded not only by peers but also by university students, lawyers and financiers”. Many students underlined the topicality of the issues and the way in which they were tackled; in fact, the students Paola Mauro of the Greppi Institute in Monticello specifies “Even if the Mafia is a subject that is always talked about, I saw it from another point of view”. Here, the fight against crime from a European perspective is the exclusive element of this project.
The students were able to smell “the smell of the university” added the teacher Francesca Villa of the Greppi Institute; in fact, the students breathed the university atmosphere through the attendance of lessons of an advanced and excellent course.
The call also took up the theme addressed by professors Michele Monopoli and Antonella Iannascoli in the final conference of 18 April regarding the need for the training path to be individualised and the role that PCTO can assume in this context In this regard, the reflection of a student on the course is significant: “it made it clear to me what I want to do after graduation”, therefore not only after high school.
Positive balance, therefore, is expressed by all the protagonists of the project. The experience is undoubted to be repeated next year but with some corrections proposed by students and teachers and welcomed by Professor Benedetta Ubertazzi; in particular, the introduction of some tools has been foreseen to overcome the difficulties of a university course: guiding schools in the choice of lessons, implementing face-to-face meetings and tutoring of university students, providing a summary of the fundamental notions in Italian – English.
The challenge for an even more interesting and engaging STEPPO PCTO 2024 is now open!