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Memories of a Former Student by Bauer The first time I entered the Nautico school building in piazza Palermo was over 50 years ago. It was 1 October,1959. Since I was afraid of being bullied by the older studentst, I quickly climbed the stairs without looking at the steps. So I tripped but I managed to reach my classroom anyway. Burlando, head caretaker, was trying to restore order. The start of the school year was chaotic. That morning, as I walked into the assigned classroom, 'Uncle Willy' intervened with a terrifying shout, to stop the din that we, very excited "freshers", were making. We froze. That good-natured "shout", so typical and unmistakable, stayed with us for all five years and it is the most beautiful memory of those fabulous times. No doubt, that first day of school was the best of my life as a student. The choice of school had been entirely mine. It was the beginning of a beautiful story which ended on August 5, 1964 with the diploma of “Aspirante alla conduzione di macchine su navi mercantili”. My dear school mates of 5D engines and I studied very hard , but, to be honest, we were also quite troublesome. After graduation, each of us has followed his own path.Some became seafarers, some worked in the industrial field and some, like me, operated in the public sector, but we always had the desire to return to the school desks for a while to remember our school days, fears for the tests included, and to relive the many funny and sometimes paradoxical situations that we went through! How often, on the occasion of our periodic reunions, we remembered "Uncle Willy", "Cere", "Brugo", the "Don" and all the other teachers and caretakers of our times; the strikes invented to go to the parks and seek "mine"; the Carnival "Carrere" and the "Athletics Championships" where Nautico always excelled; the fights with students from other schools! The memory of our meeting of 18 May, 2002 in the old premises of Piazza Palermo is still alive . With great emotion and happiness, we walked in the corridors, visited our classroom and we invaded the office of the Headmaster; we climbed our beloved "Mast" and sang "Zumbai". That day we surprised the Headmaster and the teachers: they did not remember such goliardic spirit also because, perhaps, today, our 'grandchildren', the future sailors, are less lively. Even " La Carretta" was much more "peppered" than the one now written by the Association but it is still a means of information for people who love the sea and helps to remember better times, or, perhaps, times only less difficult than the present ones. The Association, as it is known, tries to renew and strengthen the bonds of friendship and human solidarity among former students and teachers of the school; to promote opportunities for discussions and events designed to develop and spread the culture of the sea; to bring the professional experience of the members to the students; to help the new graduates to understand the working world better and make it easier for them to enter it. Our School, which has recently changed part of its name, and which, like the entire school system, is the target of 'reformers', needs, today more than ever, collaboration to continue to offer to the young who want to become seafarers a suitable education and a professionalism adequate to the times we are living in. We must uphold the name of our beloved "Nautico San Giorgio" and, therefore, it is more necessary than ever to have a strong, very active Association capable of supporting any initiatives suitable to help our School to grow and become more and more important for the Italian merchant marine. ZUMBAI

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