“Business Italian Style” at Saint Peter’s Prep

On May 22, 2015, Dr. Teresa Fiore and Dr. Enza Antenos from the Italian program (Department of Spanish and Italian) at Montclair State University met with a group of students of Saint Peter’s Preparatory School in Jersey City, and introduced them to the project called “Business Italian Style.” The students welcomed the initiative with enthusiasm, sharing thoughts and asking questions during the presentation. After their visit, organized by the Italian teacher, Ms. Rosalie Romano, the school created an article to inform the Saint Peter’s Preparatory School about the event.

With “Business Italian Style,” twenty Montclair State University students interviewed leading NYC/NJ-based “Made in Italy” business representatives (design, fashion, art and food) for a media project that produced four subtitled video interviews and related articles. Published in the daily Italian language online newspaper, La Voce di New York, the articles have received more than 60,000 views since February 2015. See article, for more information. Students at Saint Peter’s Prep asked about the possibility of reaching out to the headquarters of these businesses in Italy, and inquired about other sectors such as the Italian banking system.

“Business Italian Style” is just one of the many programs organized and supported by the Inserra Chair in Italian and Italian American Studies to establish a strong link between the study of Italian language and its applications in the “real world.” This is a crucial concept for the future of Italian studies in the K-16 system, and one that the Inserra Chair and the Italian Program at MSU explained in detail to the students at Saint Peter’s Prep in order to identify ways to involve high school students in future editions of the project. This meeting is an example of the synergetic work between the Inserra Chair/Italian Program and the New Jersey high schools as part of an ongoing process of exchanges that promises to produce renewed results. The final goal is to strengthen the existing bridge for students who take Italian in the high schools and continue to study it at the university level as majors, minors or double majors. Projects such as “Business Italian Style” are showing high school students the relevance of the study of Italian in new directions of interest in this millennium, such as the economic sectors in which Italy as a G7 country is a world leader (leisure and cultural tourism, art restoration, transportation equipment, computer and software services, energy and utilities, and industrial manufacturing, besides the better known food, fashion, design, art).