“Light the Dream, Choose the Passion”. The message of Tonia Cartolano and Michele Albanese to the youth.

There are encounters that are not forgotten. Not for the setting, not for the lights or the high-sounding words, but for what they manage to move inside.

The experience I experienced at the Liceo Artistico “Pomponio Leto” in Teggiano, together with the extraordinary journalist Tonia Cartolano, was one of those moments capable of leaving a mark: a mix of thoughts, emotions and truths shared with sincerity and passion.

We chose not to “teach”, but to tell.

Not to speak to kids, but with kids, building an authentic space where dreaming was allowed, but also questioning, doubting, listening.

Because today, more than ever, young people need not only models to imitate, but real, lived testimonies that help them believe in themselves and recognize the profound value of their own choices.

We talked about dreams, but with our feet firmly planted in reality.

We talked about passion, but as a daily commitment.

And we did it because we strongly believe that every boy and every girl has inside them a spark ready to become fire, if fueled in the right way.

It was a meeting about the future, but above all about the present.

On the courage to start today to build what you want to be tomorrow. And on the duty – yes, duty – to do it with honesty, with responsibility, with heart.

Because nothing is more revolutionary than a young person who believes in his dreams and gets up every morning with the desire to make them come true.

There is a phrase that has the sound of a paradox but the weight of a profound truth: “If you want to start dreaming, wake up and follow your passion.”

It resonated among the desks of the “Pomponio Leto” Art High School in Teggiano, shared and cultivated together with the journalist Tonia Cartolano, in a meeting that was able to ignite thoughts and consciences.

Not a lesson, but an act of faith in the lives of young people. A gentle but firm call to the responsibility of choosing, building, feeling.

In a time when easy success is often chased, we tried to restore dignity to two words that are too often faded: dream and passion.

Because dreaming is not enough.

The dream, by itself, is a blurry photograph.

It takes passion to give it light and depth.

It is passion that transforms an idea into action, desire into a project.

It is that strength that pushes you to try again, to fall and get up again, to say “I can do it” even when it seems impossible.

We reminded students that the future does not come by chance. “What you want tomorrow, you must begin today.”

Not tomorrow, not in a year, but now. With every gesture, every choice, every word that contributes to building the way we tell ourselves and realize ourselves.

We urged them to worry not just about what they want to become, but how they plan to get there.

Because talent is not enough if it is not accompanied by discipline, curiosity, and above all, the awareness that every action has a consequence.

Life is not an isolated episode, but a chain of causes and effects, of choices that lead to other choices.

Nothing is neutral. Nothing is truly “small” when it comes to oneself.

Falling in love with your job, getting excited every day about what you do: this is perhaps the true form of success.

An intimate success, which does not seek applause but coherence with what one is. A success that is not measured in numbers, but in sense

We also told the kids this: You determine what you want to become when you grow up.

Not the votes, not the opinions of others, not the trends of the moment.

Only them, with their own uniqueness, with the courage to dare, with the responsibility to choose who to really be.

So yes, dream. But do it with your eyes open, your head held high and your hands dirty with commitment. Because there is no greater dream than the one you build awake, every day, step by step.

And above all: have the courage to remain human, to get excited, and to make passion your signature in the world.

If everything we have shared – the value of dreams, the strength of passion, the responsibility of choices – could have a face, it would be that of Tonia Cartolano.

With her clear voice, her professional rigor and her profound humanity, Tonia perfectly embodied the values ​​we tried to convey.

Not just an established journalist, but a true example of coherence, authenticity and love for one's work.

In that courtroom, her testimony wasn't just heard: it was felt.

He left his mark.

Because when those who have courageously lived their choices speak, every word becomes a seed.

And we are certain that, after meeting her, many hearts have truly begun to wake up… to begin dreaming with passion.