No one left behind: Initiative inspired by SiS Catalyst
TRIESTE – A project called “no one left behind” was recently launched, establishing an alternative school to allow young people who have dropped out of school to complete a junior high school diploma. This school is named SMAC and is run by volunteers, who are mainly retired teachers, and housed in premises provided by the Municipality of Trieste, Italy. Thirteen children aged 12 to 15 years are hosted by SMAC this year.
This project takes on board the positive experience that was developed as part of another project called “Together we’re fine” initiated by the Municipality of Trieste and the Office of Social Service for Minors (USSM). The aim of this project was to help young people at risk of marginalisation and deviance.
In October 2014, Simona Cerrato for Sissa Medialab and a group of SISSA PHD students started a collaboration with the SMAC school to engage SMAC kids in science. The first outcomes are very positive. On the occasion of the donation of a digital whiteboard, the SISSA Medialab organised a morning of hands-on activities tackling topics from the mathematics of Facebook (graph theory) to neuroscience and chemistry. The meeting ended with an interview with the PhD students which turned out to be a very direct and open dialogue.
The students will be hosted at the SISSA Medialab where they will have the opportunity to meet other scientists and participate in more activities. Then other meetings and shorter courses will be organised on more specific subjects.
This project was largely inspired by the SiS Catalyst project that the European Students’ Union (ESU) is a proud partner of. The SiS Catalyst project is co-funded by the Lifelong Learning Programme of the European Union.
More information about the project can be found here: http://www.smartinocampo.it/prevenzione-e-formazione/centro-smac-e-scuola-smac/
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The European Students’ Union, headquartered in Brussels, is the umbrella organisation of 47 national unions of students from 39 European countries. ESU represents and promotes the educational, social, economical and cultural interests of students at the European level. Through its member unions, ESU represents over 11 million students in Europe. To find out more about ESU, follow us on Twitter @ESUtwt, check out or Facebook page or visit www.esu-online.org. ESU celebrates its 30th anniversary in 2012.
