John Cabot University Students Diedré Blake, Neal Huddon-Cossar, and Challis Popkey Honored at the Italian Parliament

Premio America recipients

Premio America recipients

John Cabot University is proud to announce that on October 9, students Diedré Blake, Neal Huddon-Cossar, and Challis Popkey were chosen by the Italy-USA Foundation to receive medals of the Italian Parliament.

The Italy- USA Foundation is an independent institution that was established to honor and promote the friendship between Italians and Americans by playing a bipartisan public role on both sides of the Atlantic.

Each year the Foundation confers the America Award, under the auspices of the President of the Italian Republic, in order to acknowledge and encourage initiatives aimed at favoring relationships between Italy and the United States. Within the framework of this award, the Foundation also confers medals to three students at American universities.

President Franco Pavoncello thanked Italy-USA Foundation President Lucio D’Ubaldo for this important recognition. “It is a great honor for the JCU community to see our students receive this award. Our university is named for explorer John Cabot, who in fact, created a bridge between Italy and the Americas. “

JCU Vice President and Dean of Academics Mary Merva nominated the students as they represent the next generation of Americans who will be building bridges across the Atlantic with Italy: “All three of these American students have undertaken great initiatives in learning about Italy – from its language and literature to its political and economic culture. These exceptional students exemplify the spirit of intellectual and academic exploration that ties the United States and Italy.”

Read the student biographies.

See more photos on the JCU Facebook page.