Former Waltham High School student receives scholarship from Embassy of Italy in Washington

Former Waltham High School student Conor Ayers was awarded a scholarship from the Embassy of Italy in Washington in partnership with the Italian Consular Network and Eduitalia, an Italian language course program.

Ayers received the honors at a ceremony on Oct. 27.

The ceremony, held at nine Italian consulates across the United States, with the Italian ambassador attending via Zoom, awarded scholarship grants to 19 Advanced Placement Italian students to study in Italy for up to five weeks next year.

Veronica Campanini, Ayers’ former Italian teacher at Waltham High School, Waltham Public Schools Superintendent Marisa Mendonsa and WPS world language program coordinator Sharon Kalagher attended the ceremony at the Italian Consulate in Boston.

In addition to Ayers, two other students from Massachusetts and Rhode Island were awarded scholarships this year.

Now a freshman at Tufts University, Ayers studied Italian for two years at McDevitt Middle School and four years at WHS.

Ayers said he was inspired by his brother taking the language as well as his interest in Italian culture and traveling there.

“I wanted to use it to be able to speak there, whether it’s just to order food or talk to locals or ask for directions,” Ayers said.

Campanini said that last April, Ayers attended a week-long trip to Italy that she had helped organize for students and loved it.

“I think after this trip he wanted to apply for the scholarship, hoping to go back to study more about the culture and the language,” Campanini said.

Campanini had taught Italian at WHS for six years and said the Eduitalia scholarship program acknowledges the abilities of students in a less traditional subject.

“We have a lot of talent in the schools and in the community in general,” Campanini said.

Campanini said she didn’t realize Ayers had Italian heritage until recently. She said she learned from his father that Ayers’ great grandparents immigrated to the United States from Caltanissetta, a city in central Sicily.

Ayers said his grandma was happy he went. She was born in the United States and has always wanted to visit Italy.

While he isn’t currently studying Italian, Ayers said he plans to enroll in a course at Tufts next semester. Ayers added that he hopes other WHS students appreciate the Italian language program as much as he does.

“I hope that they can see the opportunities that can come from it, the beautiful places you can go and the things you can learn,” Ayers said, “and that potential gets people to eventually start taking Italian at Waltham because the teachers are just really great and it’s wonderful.”