The scholarships in memory of the professors Rosario and Filipino Maida were delivered this morning in the concert hall of Palazzo De Nobili in Catanzaro. The awards went to four students and students worthy of the fifth classes of the “Sicilian – De Nobili” institute of the capital who participated in the assignment call, in order to honor the memory and the values that the Maida professors transmitted during their professional and civil life. The scholarships were assigned to Marta Grazioso, Chiara Montesano, Margherita Crisci and Alessandro Parisi.
The initiative intervened by the city councilor for culture, Donatella Monteverdi, who stressed that “the” De Nobili “school is always very close to the administration. I want to thank the family for this gesture of attention for our children. Everything that is turned to them is of great importance. These generations feel increasingly detached from the world of adults, we are beyond conflict. I perceive a parallel world between new generations and adults. This initiative approaches the two ways “.
Professor Elena Maida then intervened: “My dad – he said – was a city councilor for two legislatures and carried out battles for citizens. Many still ask me about him and tell me anecdotes of his life. Both my dad and his sister have made an important contribution for the cultural and human development of the students”.
The manager Filomena Rita Folino recalled the genesis of scholarships: “At the beginning of the school year this project started and, thanks to the availability of the teachers and the secretariat of the Institute, today we are here to honor two professors who spent others. It is not so much the symbolic value of the scholarship but the intrinsic meaning. The memory is not in the scholarship but in the principles. yours and treasure this experience. “
The president of the city council, Gianmichele Bosco intervened: “We are honored to be able to host an initiative of this type because the Municipality is the home of all citizens. Rosario Maida has always been lavished for the defense of the last and days like this take on an important meaning. It is not obvious to guarantee these rights. We must never take a step back on civil rights that we must never take it for granted. weak are always protected “.
The testimony of Agazio Loiero is touching: “I was on an opposite front: I was Catholic, he communist. But there were many – he said speaking of Rosario Maida – the social battles that I was witnessed. In inequalities that must be smoothly. Today as then. The real power today the large groups have it. Yesterday’s battles are therefore those of today. Today the boys are not the same as the school. Some guys must be a stimulus for them since feelings and memory today fade more and more “.
During the event, to which all the relatives of the Maida family intervened, a video was shown with a selection of photographs of both professors in the moments of their professional life on the notes of the violin played by Maestro Luciano Spagnuolo.
Prof. Rosario (Sarino) Maida, former student of the “Sicilian” high school, a graduate in agricultural sciences and professor at various high schools in the city, was a prominent figure in school unionism, co-founder and regional secretary of the CGIL school union, as well as municipal councilor of the then PCI, actively engaged in the defense of the rights of workers, young people and the most vulnerable. His message was the fight against all forms of exploitation and oppression for the affirmation of man. He was an educator who has inculcated to many generations of students far more than the rudiments of his disciplines: he transmitted the values of dignity, intellectual curiosity and civic sense, in addition to disciplinary knowledge.
Prof. Filipina Maida, professor in first grade secondary schools, distinguished by dedication, commitment and spirit of sacrifice, has carried out her educational mission in disadvantaged locations, always placing the well -being and education of its students at the center, demonstrating great sensitivity and generosity and economically supporting students in difficulty.
The establishment of these scholarships represents a way to keep the memory of the professors Maida alive and to perpetuate their example of civil and professional commitment in the school community and in the city of Catanzaro.