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| 4 Jun 2026 | |
| Written by Corrado Campisi | |
| Teachers' Voices |
From an Idea Born in Sicily, Under a Starry Sky, to the Stratosphere: The School That Carried Afghan Girls' Dreams Higher
I have always had a special way of looking at the starry sky of Sicilian nights. Perhaps because in Sicily, when you move away from the lights of the towns and stand silently in the countryside, the sky seems closer. The stars do not appear as distant, cold points of light, but as living presences, almost familiar ones. They force you to lift your gaze, to think bigger, to remember that life does not end within the boundaries of our daily habits.
It was from that gaze, cultivated over the years, that the idea of Touching the Sky was born. One evening, in the small piece of farmland I share with my father, under a clear sky full of stars, I found myself thinking about how that sky belonged to everyone. To me, to my students in Novi Ligure, to the boys and girls of Wallace High School in Scotland, but also to Afghan girls who today cannot freely attend school.
We were very far apart, divided by borders, languages, cultures and profoundly different life conditions. And yet, we were all under the same sky. From that thought came the desire to build a project that was not only scientific, but also deeply human. I wanted the sky to become a bridge. I wanted science not to remain locked inside a laboratory, but to become a language capable of connecting students, schools and distant stories. I wanted students to understand that STEM is not only about formulas, sensors, data and technology, but can also become responsibility, solidarity and hope.
This is how Touching the Sky was born, within the broader project Generation STEM: Discovering Our Planet, developed at IIS “Ciampini Boccardo” in Novi Ligure, Italy. At the beginning, it almost seemed like a dream too big for a school: launching a stratospheric balloon, building a scientific pathway, involving experts, students, foreign schools, research institutions and educational partners. But from the very beginning, I felt that the launch could not be only a technical experiment. It had to be a message.
Precisely because I did not want it to be only “the day of the launch”, I built a real educational journey around that moment. The stratospheric balloon had to be the destination, not the starting point.
During the school year, students met researchers, technicians and experts from important scientific and technological institutions. We spoke about the sky, stars, space, satellites, Earth observation, space robotics and science communication. Each meeting added a piece to the journey: the wonder of astronomy, the fascination of space exploration, the responsibility of observing our planet, and the technology that allows humanity to go beyond its own boundaries.
The educational pathway was enriched by the contribution of the Astronomical Observatory of the Autonomous Region of Aosta Valley, with Dr. Andrea Bernagozzi, who guided students into the wonder of the sky and astronomical observation; the Italian Space Agency, with Dr. Mario Musmeci, who opened a window onto space exploration and the value of research; Planetek Italia, which showed how satellites and data can help us observe and better understand the Earth; and Thales Alenia Space, which introduced students to the world of space robotics and the technologies that allow human beings to explore extreme environments.
A fundamental role was played by Involve Space, which managed the technical aspects of the stratospheric balloon launch, transforming an educational dream into a real mission. Thanks to their contribution, the payload, with sensors, data acquisition instruments, a camera and a microSD card, was truly able to reach the stratosphere. Alongside the scientific dimension, the project also had a strong civic and institutional meaning. The presence and support of Dr. Lara Scarpitta from the OSCE gave further significance to the journey, connecting the theme of education, rights and the dignity of Afghan girls to a broader reflection on human security, freedom and international responsibility.
The collaboration with the flight school and the Novi Ligure airport community was also precious, as they made it possible to organize the launch day. For one day, the airport became not only a technical place, but an educational space: a real and symbolic point of departure from which the students' works began their journey towards the sky. The economic support of foundations, associations and local organizations that believed in the educational value of the project was also essential. Fondazione Global Thinking, Fondo Rialto, SaS Group, Associazione Novinterzapagina, the Rotary Club of Alessandria, together with other supporters and friends of the project, enabled the school to face the costs of the mission and make possible what, at the beginning, seemed too ambitious for a small school community.
This network demonstrated something important: when a school has a vision, when it is able to tell a credible and necessary dream, the local community can respond. Science can leave the classroom. Institutions can come closer to students. Foundations can become allies of education. And a project born in a school can become a shared experience, capable of bringing together research, solidarity and the future. Alongside the scientific meetings, I wanted every student to feel part of the mission, even those who were not directly involved in the technical work. For this reason, we created a symbolic boarding pass: a simple but powerful way to tell each student, “you are on board too.”
Not everyone could assemble a sensor, program a microcontroller or follow the technical aspects of the payload, but everyone could leave a trace, a thought, a drawing, a word. And so the project opened up. Drawings, letters, essays, messages and small creative works began to arrive. They came from the students of IIS “Ciampini Boccardo”, from the Italian middle schools involved, from Wallace High School in Scotland and from the Afghan girls of Learn Afghan. Each contribution became part of a shared memory.
The scientific heart of the project was a stratospheric balloon with a payload equipped with sensors, data acquisition instruments, observation and tracking systems. But the human heart was a microSD card kept inside the payload: a small memory capsule containing the works of the students involved. An archive of hopes. A concrete trace of voices that we wanted to carry higher.
The project became international thanks to the collaboration with Wallace High School in Stirling, Scotland, and Learn Afghan. An important role in this direction was also played by Anouk Desgroseilliers from Education Cannot Wait, who put me in contact with Learn Afghan and made it possible to begin a collaboration that gave the project an even deeper human meaning.
When I presented the idea to Pashtana Durrani, founder of Learn Afghan, what struck her was not only the scientific part. It was above all the human meaning: using the sky as a universal language to say that knowledge cannot be a privilege.
From that moment, the project took on a deeper form. It was no longer only a STEM mission. It had become a bridge. During the online meetings, our students discovered stories that changed them. They understood that the right to education, which we often take for granted, can be fragile, denied, even dangerous in other parts of the world. They listened, asked questions and reflected. They understood that going to school is not only a daily habit: it is a precious possibility, a freedom, an open door to the future.
For the Afghan girls, instead, the project represented a symbolic space of recognition. Their drawings, thoughts and words did not remain hidden. They were welcomed, preserved and carried towards the sky together with those of the other students.
On 26 May 2026, from Novi Ligure airport, the stratospheric balloon rose into the sky. At that moment, while the payload was climbing, it was not only a technical device flying. The works of Italian, Scottish and Afghan students were rising. Drawings, letters, thoughts, and fragile and powerful words were rising. The voices of those who, in many cases, cannot speak freely were rising. It is difficult to explain what you feel when a project born in the classroom, among countless difficulties, authorizations, technical problems, meetings, waiting times and hopes, finally lifts off the ground.
For a teacher, it is not only the success of an activity. It is the moment when you understand that school can still do something great. Not great because it is spectacular. Great because it is human. When the images from the stratosphere arrived, we understood that the message had truly arrived. The Earth appeared curved, the sky became dark, the horizon seemed suspended between our world and space. And inside that image there was everything: the effort of a whole year, the commitment of the students, the trust of the partners, the courage of the Afghan girls, and the hope of those who continue to believe that education can change lives.
The students' works had truly touched the sky. But my first thanks go to the students who believed in this adventure. They were the ones who brought the project to life, with their curiosity, their doubts, their enthusiasm, their questions, their works, their drawings and their presence. An educational project truly exists only when students inhabit it, feel it and transform it through their own gaze.
A special thank you also goes to the colleagues who followed and accompanied me along this journey, sharing the effort, the organization, the international relationships, the educational care and the desire to offer students something that went beyond an ordinary lesson. In particular, I wish to mention Prof. Maria Teresa Lauria, who made a precious contribution to the international and linguistic dimension of the project, and Prof. Alessandra Plotegher, who supported with great sensitivity the inclusive and human value of the pathway.
My sincere thanks also go to the Headmaster, Prof. Mario Agostino Scarsi, who supported the project and allowed the school to welcome a complex, ambitious and far from ordinary challenge. Without the trust of the school leadership, without the support of the school and without the collaboration of those who chose to believe in this vision, Touching the Sky could not have taken shape.
Because a school does not truly launch a stratospheric balloon with technology alone. It launches it with trust. With hidden work. With authorizations, phone calls, meetings, fears, unforeseen events, helping hands and encouraging words. It launches it when a community decides that an educational dream deserves to become real.
For me, this is the deepest meaning of teaching. Not only transmitting content, but opening possibilities. Not only explaining formulas, but helping students discover that inside those formulas there can be the world. Not using technology as an end in itself, but as a tool to build connections, responsibility and awareness.
Touching the Sky has shown that a school can become a laboratory of the future. It can start from Novi Ligure and reach Scotland, Afghanistan and the stratosphere. It can bring together students of different ages, middle schools and high schools, teachers, researchers, journalists, associations, foundations and families. It can transform a stratospheric balloon into a message of dignity.
And above all, it can remind us of one simple truth: education is not a privilege. It is a right. And when this right is denied, every school in the world should feel called to respond. I do not know whether our students will remember all the technical details of the mission. Perhaps some of them will forget the formulas, the graphs, the values of temperature and pressure. But I hope they will remember the moment when they saw that science could carry not only instruments, but dreams.
I hope they will remember that under the same sky there are girls who still have to fight in order to study. I hope they will remember that knowledge has value only if it also becomes responsibility towards others. That day, when the balloon rose from Novi Ligure airport, I thought once again of the starry sky of Sicily where everything had begun. I thought of my father, of the olive trees, of those silent nights in which looking at the stars means feeling small, but also part of something immense.
I thought of my students, of the Afghan girls, of the Scottish students, of the Italian middle schools, of everyone who had left a trace inside that small digital memory. And I understood that perhaps the deepest meaning of school is precisely this: helping every boy and every girl lift their gaze. Because not everyone can still go to school. Not everyone can still speak freely. Not everyone can still imagine their future without fear.
But every time a school chooses not to forget those who have been left behind, every time science becomes a bridge, every time an educational project carries a fragile voice higher, then the sky becomes a little less distant. Touching the Sky was this: a stratospheric balloon, a STEM mission, a network of people, a microSD card full of dreams. And above all, a promise: that no girl, no student, no voice should ever be considered too small to reach the sky.
Selected Project Meetings
Student Meet & Greet: IIS Ciampini-Boccardo & LEARN Afghan
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VOlKDPFCSBs&t=2617s
Building Bridges Through STEM | Novi Ligure x Stirling
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfRYyD0Yb0w&t=120s
Under the Same Sky: Astrophysicist Andrea Bernagozzi to Meet Generation STEM Students
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0Q_j1mTCJM&t=4178s
Space Exploration – Dr. Mario Musmeci, Italian Space Agency
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6w-mUgfc72A&t=37s
Observing Earth from Space: Satellites, Data and Real-World Applications
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_FmdCPjit4&t=979s
Space Robotics with Thales Alenia Space
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PxATEbHX1WQ&t=8s
Meet with Pashtana Durrani, founder of Learn Afghan, and Dr. Lara Scarpitta, OSCE
