Spain. On 16 February 2022, as part of the events scheduled for the 150th Anniversary of the Foundation of the Institute of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians, the 1st Province Day of High Schools and Professional Orientation of the Province of Mary Help of Christians (SPA) was held.
The event, aimed at students of 2nd level Secondary Schools and of Professional Formation in the Province, was coordinated by the Provincial Orientation Team with the collaboration of the local Teams of the 42 FMA Schools in Spain and was included in the Days of Academic/Professional Orientation which are carried out annually in the Schools.
Transmitted for the first time on the YouTube channel of the Mary Help of Christians Province, it was conducted by ‘Amandina’, a professional clown, herself a past pupil of a Salesian school in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
In about an hour and a half of transmission, more than twenty Past Pupils from different parts of Spain intervened, who gave their testimony and told how the experience in a School run by the FMA helped them in their path of life.
The personal and professional vocations presented were various: chef, screenwriter, set designer, sportsperson, doctor, writer, sculptor, astrophysical engineer, missionary, pilot, science communicator, coach, educator, musician, Youtuber, Salesian Cooperator, Daughter of Mary Help of Christians, etc. Everyone was in agreement on two main points; they greatly appreciated the contribution of the Salesian School to their personal and professional growth and they in turn encouraged the young people to never stop dreaming and working to make their dreams come true.
In addition to the video of the Day,
the complete videos of all the participants and a dossier with the most significant words of each have been published on the provincial platform of connection of the orientation teams. In this way, it will be possible to continue to study and work on the aspects of each Past Pupil that are most relevant to the students.
At this first Provincial Orientation Day, which had a positive response, it is hoped that others will happen, always with the involvement of the Past Pupils and with a testimony of “young people for young people” who express the joy and satisfaction of having grown up in a Salesian environment, as the Mother General of the FMA Institute, Sr. Chiara Cazzuola, underlines in Circular no. 1014:
“It is important and vital for the present and for the future of the Institute to strengthen at all levels and in all environments in which we are present, the welcoming capacity for young people, so that they feel the Institute is ‘home’ for them, that we are willing to walk together in building a world of universal fraternity and in following a path of global ecological conversion”.
