Sixteen high school juniors from public schools in New York, Los Angeles and Detroit are heading to Florence, Italy, for a fully funded, monthlong immersion in Renaissance art, history and culture — an experience that organizers describe as a potentially life-changing opportunity.
The students, along with four teacher-chaperones, are this year’s recipients of the Palazzo Strozzi High School Renaissance Award, a scholarship created by the Palazzo Strozzi Foundation USA in partnership with the Departments of Education of New York, Los Angeles and Detroit.
The program, now in its 14th edition, targets students from schools with limited access to classical humanities. It introduces them to the Italian Renaissance, a pivotal period that helped shape the Enlightenment and ultimately inspired the ideals behind the founding of the United States 249 years ago.
All of the selected students are 16 or 17 years old. Many are traveling abroad for the first time, some holding a passport for the first time in their lives. For the next four weeks, they will explore historic churches and museums in the mornings, then return each afternoon for academic sessions on Renaissance philosophy, art, math and architecture.
“This is more than just a trip — it’s a window into a world that many of these students have never seen before,” said Mario Calvo Platero, chairman of the Palazzo Strozzi Foundation USA. “Our goal is to open minds, spark intellectual curiosity, and help students see themselves as part of a much larger cultural and historical conversation.”
The 16 students were selected from hundreds of eleventh-grade applicants across nine public high schools: five in New York City, one in each borough, two in Detroit, and two in Los Angeles. The participating schools include:
- New York: Digital Arts and Cinema Technology High School (Brooklyn), DeWitt Clinton High School (the Bronx), The Facing History School (Manhattan), Long Island City High School (Queens), and CSI High School for International Studies (Staten Island)
- Detroit: Cass Technical High School and East English High School
- Los Angeles: Ramon C. Cortines School of Visual & Performing Arts and Felicitas & Gonzalo Mendez High School
Each is located in a district where resources are often stretched and student populations reflect a wide diversity of immigrant families and first-generation Americans.
The full list of student winners is:
- From New York: Ma’isah A. Armstrong, Ambar Sanchez, Ramon Henriquez, Hector Mendoza Vivalto, Johanny M. Torres, Adis Cekic, Hannah E. Azeem, Mahnoor Tufail, Melanie I. Molina, and Terrance Graham.
- From Detroit: Onanna C. Jacy, Jeremiyah E. J. Jackson, and Kamora Lomeli-Hoskins.
- From Los Angeles: Alice Samoylova, Elsa Cambell, and Josemanuel Aguilera.
They will be accompanied by teachers Kristen Mattina, Donna De Luca, Devinne Wheeler-Tate, and Kelsey Wiley. In Florence, they will be met by Laura Vinti, the program coordinator based in Italy.
The application process was competitive and multi-layered. After months of studying the Renaissance, students submitted essays to become school-level finalists. Each school then nominated six candidates, who were interviewed by a special selection committee led by Calvo Platero and Professor Stefano Albertini, director of Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimò at New York University.
“The students were chosen not only for their academic performance but for the energy, curiosity and critical spirit they brought to a subject that, for most of them, was entirely new,” Albertini said.
At the award ceremony held at the foundation’s headquarters on East 71st Street in Manhattan, Calvo Platero addressed the students with a personal anecdote.
“An alumnus wrote to me recently,” he told them. “He explained that after the trip to Italy, he approached college with a new sense of motivation, more mature and more focused. Today, he is a young professional building his career. When you are in Italy, commit yourselves to absorbing every detail. You will be representing yourselves, your families, your schools, and your country. Honor this opportunity.”
The experience has indeed opened doors for many past participants, several of whom have gone on to attend top universities such as NYU and Yale.
For the next four weeks, Florence will serve as both classroom and home. Each morning, students will explore Renaissance churches, palaces, sculptures and paintings. In the afternoons, they’ll return to La Strozzina, inside the historic Palazzo Strozzi, for three-hour interdisciplinary lessons preparing them for the next day’s guided visits.
On Wednesdays, the group will take day trips to nearby cities. In Pisa, they’ll visit the Piazza dei Miracoli and Leaning Tower; in Siena, the Duomo and Civic Museum; in Bologna, the Anatomical Theatre, a landmark in the history of medicine.
Weekend excursions will take the students further. The first weekend will be spent in Florence. The second will bring them to Milan, where they’ll study Leonardo da Vinci’s legacy and visit his masterpiece The Last Supper at Santa Maria delle Grazie. The third weekend takes them to Venice for the Festa del Redentore and a focus on the Venetian Renaissance. Finally, the group will travel to Rome, where they will explore the city’s vast timeline—from ancient ruins and the Colosseum to the Vatican, the Sistine Chapel, and the Roman High Renaissance.
