The major part of every day I spend with my students, because I consider them as my friends and collaborators… 

As the school system here gives great importance to projects, I elaborated one which contained title, objectives, finality and content precisely with the goal of creating a Study Circle with Ruhi Book 1. 

The project was inserted in the document of the Student Council together with other various programs which were being offered by other teachers.   During the Student Council meeting, where other teachers, parent representatives and representatives of the students were present, the project was presented and explained.  Once approved by the Student Council the project was explained to the classes and caused great enthusiasm among the students.  I explained to them that if they decided to participate, they would have to have their parents sign a letter of authorisation in order to be a part of such a project. 

I presented the project in 2 classes:  4th and 5th year.  In the 5th year class, 10 of the 19 students signed up, and after the first encounter another 3 asked to be admitted as they had heard the enthusiastic reports of their fellow students.  In the other class for the 4th year, 12 of 21 students became participants.  The Study Circles began at the beginning of February and went ahead until the beginning of June. 

As the Study Circles were held in the school classrooms, which are rather unattractive, we always did something to make the atmosphere pleasing, warm and joyous.

Each meeting began with reading a passage from the Writings, a poem or a passage for reflection on man and his relation with God.  The first part of the Circle was comprised of Book 1, the exercises, reflection and sharing, and then an artistic moment – designs, sharing of a writing of one of the participants, etc.  The second part was dedicated once again to Book 1, the exercises, reflection, sharing and in the final part a light refreshment.  

In general the meetings lasted about 2 hours, giving each group 11-12 encounters. At the conclusion of the course a great sadness was felt by all - the course had finished. 

At the beginning of May during an encounter with the parents of the students, many of the parents whose children had participated in the Study Circles warmly thanked me, essentially for having offered this spiritual course for their children.  Once during the artistic part, I asked the students if they would like to write a message to one of their fellow companions; one girl wanted to write to all the youth in her Study Circle. 

At the end of the course every group wrote me a letter of gratitude expressing all their enthusiasm for having taken this path together and the desire to continue during the following years – as I had told that the whole course consists of seven books. 

Here in Italy when a student does an ‘outside course’ such as this, he receives credit points towards his final grade, so at the end of the course a certificate of participation was presented to each student. And this will be an integral part of the scholastic outcome of his schooling. 

The experience has proven to be extremely positive and enthusiastic.  The youth who participated in this Study Circle have expressed great joy in learning to know the Writings of Baha’u’llah and in the understanding of His teachings. 

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