JCU Students Samantha Abear, Stefania Rojas, and Thomas Oswald Young IV Honored at the Italian Parliament
John Cabot University is proud to announce that students Samantha Abear, Stefania Rojas and Thomas Oswald Young IV were chosen by the Italy-USA Foundation to be honored on October 8, 2015 at the Italian Chamber of Deputies.
America Award Recipients
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.
The America Award for 2015 was conferred to racecar driver Mario Andretti, vice president of Bulgari Nicola Bulgari, Italian Minster of Education and Research Stefania Giannini, president of the Iacocca Foundation Kathryn Iacocca, president of RAI television Monica Maggioni, president of Geox Mario Moretti Polegato, astronaut Paolo Nespoli, actress Gabriella Pession, violinist maestro Uto Ughi, and director of Radio Capital Vittorio Zucconi. The America Award was also conferred to the memory of singer Frank Sinatra.
President Franco Pavoncello commented, “It is a great honor for the JCU community to see our students receive this award. Our university is named for the 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: “These young, talented, and bright American students decided to pursue their American university degrees in Italy. By taking a more unusual path for their studies, they have shown us that the historic ties between Italy and the United States are not just in the past, but also in our future.”
