«You were courageous and reckless, even a little reckless, in your choice of university and course of study. You have experienced and understood the importance of fully living the university experience and relationships with people as fundamental stages for your personal and professional growth. We have provided you with a toolbox that will allow you to open doors: never stop studying and training. Dear graduates: persevere with that courage that has guided you this far and celebrate this memorable day with all your heart.”
Thus the rector of the University of Bergamo Sergio Cavalieri addressed the 600 graduates who were the protagonists today, Saturday 15 June, representing the over 1,700 UniBg master’s graduates of the academic year. 2023/2024, of the Graduation Day ceremony, a morning full of emotions experienced in the splendid setting of the great hall of Sant’Agostino.
It is the theme of courage, “having heart” and making use of one’s strength to face daily challenges, the one chosen by the rector to wish the new graduates of the University of Bergamo a better future. Courage that “must be able to imprint itself on you like an invisible tattoo, an imprint, a strength capable of accepting even defeats and learning from mistakes”.
Then it was the turn of “The present is not enough”, the praise of young people brought to the UniBg Graduation Day by the guest of honor Ivano Dionigi, professor emeritus of the Alma Mater Studiorum – University of Bologna, of which he was rector, and president of the AlmaLaurea Interuniversity Consortium, who urged: «Show your faces, make your voice heard, don’t be clandestine; your time is not tomorrow, it is now; you who have the future in your blood and the privilege of addressing time firsthand. Be aware of your strength, because time is your friend. Be dissatisfied, be demanding, be rigorous. I would like to tell you: be perfect. The world will be better the day when we will no longer say of a boy or a girl “it’s all his father, all his mother”, but of a parent we will say “it’s all his son, he’s all his daughter”.
The highest civil authorities took part in the Graduation Day, including the delegated councilor of the Minister of University and Research Alessandra Gallone, who spoke remotely with a video message, and the newly elected mayor of Bergamo Elena Carnevali, who said, addressing the graduates: «Be protagonists of your life, in the social and professional dimensions which begins today. This is my wish for you new graduates who are looking towards the future with the energy and enthusiasm of your age and with the trust that we adults place in you. During your training course, completed with the achievement of a master’s degree, you have cultivated interests and knowledge, enriching them with quality knowledge and skills; but above all you have developed that critical spirit indispensable to be citizens of the world. You are the present and, even more so, the future: build it with all the passion and determination you are capable of. In recent months I have met many girls and boys who have expressed to me the urgency of being listened to and participating in choices that directly concern them and which impact the lives of all of us. I am committed to involving them with them because I believe that their contribution can be rich and valuable. Our community needs your vision. Bergamo needs you to be increasingly open, enterprising, international.”
During the morning, enriched by the performance “The magic of sand” by the artist Andrea Arena-Sand Art, 80 graduates (10 per department) who particularly distinguished themselves for merit during their studies were also awarded. The ceremony ended in the spirit of celebration, with the ritual “throwing the touch” and the singing of “Gaudeamus igitur”, the university anthem.
