Chasing the stars
**This post is the English translation of a post published on the blog of the Univertisy of Verona. See the original article here.
In 2006 I am a metalworker, working in Milan with a permanent contract. The following year, I’d be celebrating 21 years as an entertainer in holiday resorts in Morocco. At the end of the season, they’d offer me a promotion in the form of 6 months as chief Entertainer (animator) in the Maldives. In the short term the offer seems exciting and funny, but not seeing a light, a step forward at the end of the path scares me. I reject it and decide for a more ambitious destination.
It will be my Star to follow: I enrol to the bachelor degree in Multimedia Computing Science at the University of Verona.
It’s been a painful choice. In my family, no one has a degree and the encouragement goes hand in hand with scepticism. The same happens in my head, where the miserable 63 (out of 100 – bare minimum) that got me out of my secondary school, pulls me down screaming overbearingly. To top it off, there is the change of
lifestyle, from holiday resorts to the University, the absence of friends in Verona (near Venice) due to origins from Brescia (near Milan) and the awareness of starting with two years of delay compared to the other “freshers” coming straight from the School in batches.
I don’t understand whether is that star that is shining high, or it’s just me being born short, but somehow I feel compelled to keep looking upwards.
The brain shakes off the rust, but the University appears to me very cold, detached, isolated. I decide to apply to become a student representative and give my humble contribution. I don’t recognise myself within the existing parties, therefore I create a neutral list from scratch. I strongly believe in the Representative.
I think a Representative can serve as an example to many.
The star now shines brighter, but seems to be moving away from me. To achieve it, I realise I’ll have to give more. Much more.
I am convinced that a Representative must aspire to be a role model for others.
I am convinced that a Representative must aspire to be a role model for others.
After 5 years I become the President of the Student Council (original post in Ita, eng version is WIP). However, the risk that one who has become popular for organising extra-curricular activities (Cabaret_night, Annual_Party), is mistaken for a lazy student is high. The idea terrifies me.
The star is closer now. It spurs me on. I push for the final rush and complete the Master degree in the 2/2 years, with Honours.
After 6 years, I finally reached my guiding Star. I am sitting under it: it warms me and sheds light on a new galaxy. I pretty much ignore it and keep enjoying the working landscape available in Verona: in 2014 I win a research grant and I participate in Start-cup Veneto with an entrepreneurial idea. I learn a lot, from both experiences, but I start to think about what the galaxy I had ignored up to that moment could have in store for me. With courage mixed fear, I challenge myself and decide to take the chance.
My new Star of a career abroad seems too far away. I organize my return trip to Italy. I look back at the first Star, the of the University: it seems so weak…it smiles faintly at me. There is so much dark around.
I decide to give it all. I see this as the last call. I sharpen the curriculum. Eighty-two versions to find the definitive one. Intel – the tech giant – replies and I get a permanent contract in an unknown city somewhere in the UK. After 3 years, I am the point of reference for EMEA in Artificial Intelligence and I collaborate on world-class projects.
I don’t know for how long I will keep warming-up under this Star, nor if I’ll ever reach others. The only thing I know is that if today I am lucky enough to contemplate a universe of options, it is only thanks to the lessons learned by chasing my first Star. The University of “Mathematical, Physical and Natural Sciences” of Verona not only opened up a galaxy of possibilities, but also gave me the tools to navigate it.
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