In the wake of the “WeRead” project, a new collaboration to stimulate the powerful imagination of the new generations
Respect for diversity and the promotion of dialogue, a culture of encounter and a new civic and social sensibility without frontiers: such are the values shared by Whirlpool and Scholas and underlying in the educational event Call to creativity: our responsibility organized on 7 October to build a new vision of the future by stimulating creative potential and inspired use of digital technologies.
120 young people between 15 and 18 from “marginal places” in cities, mostly suburbs, in over 20 countries, from Italy to Colombia, from Venezuela to Japan, took part in a virtual encounter to develop their creative potential and turn ideas into actions that generate value for others.
“The young are the protagonists of the future, drivers of a stronger, more inclusive and empathetic society,” said Federica Bartolini, Corporate Communications Senior Manager, Whirlpool EMEA, “unfortunately many young people often pass from one fragmentary experience to another, finding it hard to translate their potential into real projects. The virtual meeting we organized with Scholas was designed to foster dialogue between different realities based on shared values like respect, integrity, inclusion and diversity, which are the foundations of our Company. Meetings like this help young identify strategies and tools enabling them to develop their capabilities and build a better future”.
José María del Corral, global head of Scholas, thanked the young people involved and Whirlpool after the event as follows: “I want to thank you young people for having created something with what you are, through what you hear and what happens to you. And congratulate you all for having transformed this pandemic, this crisis, into an opportunity, something new, creative, where the solitude of an individual can meet with the solitude of another and thus escape from isolation. This is how each young person was able to meet someone else and in that encounter rediscover their true identity. This is why I want to thank Whirlpool and all the educators who were with us because, as Pope Francis has always said, we can’t change the world if we don’t change education“.
Engaging in some innovative art-related exercises and creative games and thinking, the young participants in the meeting were able to compare their experiences in different lives, above all in the last few months, and begin to imagine new models of reality centered on the voice and expression of the world’s young people. For this voice can take part in the reconstruction of a new normality at this very particular moment in time.
The initiative grew out of the “WeRead” project, which encourages young children to read and thus develop their skills and creativity, especially during the pandemic. Thanks to the number of minutes read by the children, Whirlpool was able to donate 10,000 euros to Scholas and its projects to develop young people’s skills and accompany them towards their future jobs.