Cape High Italian students receive funds to support subscription, scholarship

Thanks to the generosity of the America-Italy Society of Philadelphia under the direction of Franca Riccardi, PhD, the Cape Henlopen High School Italian classrooms have started receiving the Italian magazine OGGI and will – for the first time since Cape started offering Italian 12 years ago – be awarding a $1,100 scholarship to a deserving senior who studied with Cristina Christy.

This began in December 2020 when a check intended to foster “the diffusion of the Italian language and culture” was forwarded to Christy. The Italian classes had previously enjoyed a subscription to OGGI magazine, but the cost had recently tripled, making it prohibitively expensive. A portion of the generous donation was immediately earmarked to renew the subscription to OGGI magazine, benefiting all students.

Christy said, “This magazine is perfect for students in every level. It is similar to our People magazine in that the articles are current, and on topics that interest almost every student. This year especially, with so many students learning in part or completely on a computer, our students have little opportunity to hold a book or do work on paper – and some of them/us miss this!” Christy’s classes do receive the Italian-American Herald, a monthly newspaper which features articles both in English and Italian on a variety of Italian topics.

Christy contacted Kristin Clifton, Cape’s college counselor, to discuss the process for awarding the balance of the funds, approximately $1,100, to a deserving senior. “While I have had many deserving students, the one who will receive this award holds a special place in my heart. I cannot wait to present it!” she said.

Due to a number of unfortunate events including the COVID-19 pandemic, Christy’s students have not traveled to Italy since 2017. She hopes this senior will have the opportunity to travel to Italy in the future, once travel is again possible. Christy also hopes that other entities will be eager to allocate funds to her school for her students. She spent formative years between Pennsylvania and Italy, and Dickinson College named its center in Bologna, Italy, after her father, Professor K. Robert Nilsson. She knows how much of an impact living in another country and learning another language at a young age had on her. She hopes to teach long enough to see one of her students go to Italy to study, maybe at her father’s school in Bologna!