During the 2024 edition of JOB&Orienta, the traditional award ceremony honoring the schools and students who won the “Stories of Alternation and Skills” Prize once again took place.

The initiative was created to highlight and promote projects and experiences of school-to-work alternation carried out within pathways for transversal skills and guidance (PCTO), enhanced alternation, curricular internships, and apprenticeship programs (levels I and III), developed by students from Italian upper secondary schools and ITS Academies.

The numbers continue to grow: this edition involved 3,500 students from 261 upper secondary schools and ITS Academies, with a total of 385 projects submitted across four categories — each presented through video stories.
The winning projects featured drones, robotics, technological experiments, and innovative startups, all embracing the challenge of innovation while combining it with tradition and adapting it to the rapidly changing world.

In the “Licei” (High Schools) category, the Pietro Giannone Institute of Caserta took first place with the project “Valori in Serie”. Students reinterpreted Sophocles’ Antigone in a contemporary setting, transforming the tragedy into a modern-day web series with a thriller/gangster twist set in a school environment. 

In the ITS Academy category, the top prize went to “Noi, Allievi Ufficiali alla Nato” (We, Officer Cadets at NATO) by the ITS Italian Academy of Merchant Shipping Foundation in Genoa. The students completed internships aboard NATO’s Alliance research vessel, participating in advanced scientific research missions and gaining both technical and managerial skills in a highly specialized international environment.

Among technical institutes, first place was awarded to the IISS G. Salvemini of Lecce for “NAO, the Humanoid Robot in the Stationery Shop”, a project aimed at introducing students to robotics and artificial intelligence. The initiative also participated in Unioncamere’s skills certification program, developed in collaboration with the i-M2A Network (Mechanical, Mechatronic and Automation Institutes) and Federmeccanica.

In the professional institutes category, the ISISS Magnaghi-Solari of Salsomaggiore (Parma) won with “GreenPot Solari JA”, a sustainability-focused project. Thanks to JA Italia’s “Impresa in Azione” program, students created a mini-company that transforms food waste into useful resources.