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The 2025 Edition of ‘A Scuola di Inclusione’: Solidarity Van Comes Out on Top

, by Andrea Celauro, translated by Jenna Walker
Help on four wheels for anyone living on the street, an app for the Deaf community, a podcast telling stories about blind individuals, an awareness campaign on the accessibility of buildings. The second edition of the project organized by Bocconi, Intesa, Dynamo Camp and Repubblica is loaded with ideas to combat social exclusion. Six groups were awarded, with a total of 450 participating students from 27 schools in Italy

The top idea was for a solidarity van equipped to distribute meals, offering practical help to people in need. And it was the students behind the idea in the 5MV Edison Volta class at the IIS Luigi Luzzatti in Venice who won the prize for the best social inclusion project in the second edition of 'A Scuola di Inclusione.' It is a Bocconi University initiative in collaboration with Intesa Sampaolo and Dynamo Camp, with the media partnership of the newspaper La Repubblica and the support of Affari Pubblici. The Venice class, along with the other winning classes, were recognized in an awards ceremony held on 12 May in Brescia in Intesa Sanpaolo’s Sala Faissola. A total of 450 students from 27 schools throughout Italy, divided into 47 groups, participated in 'A Scuola di Inclusione' this year.

"Our idea was rooted in wanting put into practice our skills in mechanics to help those in need. It’s a form of active citizenship," said the representatives of the overall winning class, Nicolò Cafaro, Tommaso Simonato and Pepcola Lisjen, with their teacher, Monia Basso. "The project demonstrates how innovation and sustainability can be integrated with social activities." The van, however, has not remained merely an idea on paper, but the project has already been launched. This was made possible thanks to the collaboration of Caritas, which provided the van, the Municipality of Venice and the Sestante cooperative, as well as the School's mechanic workshop. 

"One of the ambitions of the 'A Scuola di Inclusione' initiative, one that Bocconi University shares, is to change people's lives, to have a positive impact on them," said Bocconi Rector Francesco Billari, opening the awards ceremony. "It's exciting to see how this initiative has taken off." 

"Involving young people in inclusion initiatives," added Andrea Forghieri, Executive Director of Intesa for Social Impact, "is precisely what raises their awareness as individuals. And their enthusiasm and their varied backgrounds lead them to propose solutions that really allow us to overcome the factors of social exclusion." The same aspect was brought up by Serena Porcari, CEO of the Dynamo Camp Foundation. She remarked that "the projects designed by these young people show how much there is a need for younger generations to think about issues with social impact."

Joining Serena Porcari to award the winning groups in the various categories were Walter Galbiati, Deputy Editor of Repubblica, Ilaria Galbusera, captain of the Italian Women’s Deaf Volleyball Team and Senior Specialist of Social Impact at Intesa for Social Impact — who encouraged students "to build bridges and not walls" — Marta Iannotta from Affari Pubblici, Alberto Barroero from Intesa, and Paola Profeta, Dean for Diversity, Inclusion and Sustainability at Bocconi. The Dean reported the numbers and impact of the 'A Scuola di Inclusione' project and emphasized how "inclusion today is not just an opportunity, but a real necessity for the improvement of our society."

While Venice came out on top, five other classes from the same number of cities across Italy won the category awards. The originality award went to the project 'If you don't pass, I don't pass either' by the 5C class at Liceo Classico D'Oria in Genoa, aimed at raising awareness among citizens on the issue of building accessibility. The creativity award was won by the CGTM team at the IIS Gadda in Paderno Dugnano, which proposed 'LISpeak', i.e. an idea for an app that can translate spoken language into Italian Sign Language (LIS). A prize for most pragmatic idea was also awarded, which was given to the 'Four voices, one goal' team at ITET Rapisardi - Da Vinci in Caltanissetta for a project to detoxify from the use of social media and digital devices. The prize for the best awareness campaign was won by the podcast 'Invisible Walls,' reflecting on the difficulties of blindness, created by the students at the Liceo Classico Minghetti in Bologna. Lastly, the prize for the best social project was awarded to the Liceo delle Scienze Umane Cagnazzi in Altamura for their idea for a 'Friends' app, that aims to promote the socialization of students with disabilities.

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