Sport and health at the PoliTO Alumni Convention

From left: Felice Vai, Luca Paiardi, Stefano Corgnati, Stefano Sacchi

Sport takes centre stage as a means of building a community of supportive and resilient people. This is the theme of the 2024 edition of the PoliTO Alumni Convention, the annual event dedicated to bringing together the community of former students of the Politecnico with everyone who studies and works at the University. But it is also an event open to the public, with prominent guests taking turns on stage to share their personal stories and professional experiences.

This year, the event focused on the role of sport as a factor of social cohesion, a vehicle for healthy lifestyles and an example for building a successful career. These are important values for the Politecnico, as emphasised in the institutional greetings by Rector Stefano Corgnati: ‘I would like the Politecnico to be remembered as the first Italian university to place sport as a founding value in the principles of growth of its community. It is a challenge that we all face together, and we will start from here to win it.’ The desire to promote sport at the University was also reiterated by the Vicerettore per la Società, la Comunità e per l'Attuazione del programma, Stefano Sacchi, in his speech.

The President of the PoliTO Alumni Association, Felice Vai, then opened the convention, first presenting the speech by Luca Paiardi - architect, former student and employee of the Politecnico, athlete at CUS Torino who won the Italian wheelchair tennis championship - and then introducing the topics of the round table moderated by journalist Alberto Dolfin, which saw Professor Ada Ferri from the Department of Applied Science and Technology-DISAT at the Politecnico, Anna Ferrino, CEO of Ferrino S.p.A., Professor Daniele Mozzone from the Institute of Sports Medicine and Medical Director of Torino Football Club, Paralympic handbike champion Diego Colombari and Francesco Imparato from Team Policumbent, a student team from the Politecnico.

Discover the activities of the PoliTO Alumni Association

A moment from the Pre-convention in Sala "Emma Strada"

The round table was accompanied by a musical performance by Sonia Schiavone and Silvia Cucchi, teachers at the Centro di Formazione Musicale di Torino. The event closed with a greeting from Riccardo D'Elicio, President of Centro Universitario Sportivo (CUS) Torino, an important partner of the Politecnico in promoting sporting activities both inside and outside the University.

However, the interesting and educational content of the day went beyond the convention, which was preceded by an important meeting between the student community and companies. The Pre-Convention enlivened the afternoon in Sala “Emma Strada”, where Politecnico students had the opportunity to meet Gregorio Marsiaj, Vice President of Sabelt S.p.A., and Elisa Martinotti, Programme Manager at Collins Aerospace and Politecnico alumna, moderated by Professor Gianpiero Cabodi from the Department of Automation and Computer Science-DAUIN. The advice given to graduating students was to listen and do so with passion, because in the work they choose, if there is passion, it will also be easier to find solutions to increasingly complex challenges. In addition to the presentation of the two companies, there was also the opportunity to talk directly with the guests in a truly special occasion to discover the working landscape of the future up close.