Eight online episodes to listen to and travel with us all the way to the Moon.
From collaboration with Houston to the atrium of our school: the story of a multidisciplinary journey that brought together students, teachers, technology, and emotions.
“Moonshot! A journey to the Moon with the students of Smiling International School.”
Some have read it singing, some pretend they haven’t… and some still haven’t listened to or don’t know about our podcast. If you’re among the latter, we invite you to keep reading and discover the world behind it—starting with the fact that the quoted line is the text of the jingle created and produced by the ITT students with the help of AI. Once you listen to Moonshot! – The Podcast, created during the 2024/25 school year and now available on Spotify, you won’t be able to get it out of your head.
Across seven episodes, plus the launch episode, the podcast features the students who were then in Years 10 and 11 of the Language High School and Year 10 of the Technological Technical Institute, coordinated by teachers Barbara Pizzo, Rebecca Gilson, and Francesco Massari. It was born within the framework of the international project of the same name, Moonshot, developed also thanks to collaboration with Space Center Houston, which in the second semester of the previous school year brought together all classes in our school—from kindergarten to high school—breaking through age and subject boundaries in one great shared mission: to raise our eyes to the Moon.
The result was a laboratory of ideas and skills that left a tangible mark, still visible today in the school atrium: the Lunar Base, an imposing structure built thanks to the contribution of all classes. Alongside it was also a hydroponic greenhouse, managed by the 10th ITT class under the guidance of teachers Laura Lunghi and Francesco Massari, to study how to grow plants in extreme environments—just as would happen during a future mission to the Moon. As the heart of the overall project, the Lunar Base naturally became the focus of the first podcast episode, entirely created by the students who last year were in Years 10 and 11 of the Language High School for the content, and Year 10 ITT for the jingle and technical production.
However, the technical-scientific perspective is not the only one, nor the dominant one. Galilei, for example, could not be missing. And the other episodes (quite literally) range from language and idiomatic expressions related to our satellite, to classical mythology and literature—from Poe to Ariosto, also in connection with the music of Caparezza, Capossela, and Banco del Mutuo Soccorso—to even early cinema.
Producing the episodes of Moonshot! – The Podcast was one of the most engaging and demanding parts of the overall project, which we shared entirely, actively participating in ideation, research, writing, recording, and final editing. At first, many of us felt intimidated by the idea of recording our own voices: thinking that so many people might later listen to us on Spotify was truly daunting. We hoped to record as little as possible, afraid of making mistakes or not feeling good enough.
Over time, however, something changed. Thanks to the climate of trust created among classmates and teachers, we faced our fears and recorded with enthusiasm. In the end, we accomplished far more than we had imagined and realized how beautiful the work we were building together truly was. Every text and every voice is a unique contribution that, together with the others, tells the story of our Moon.
The process was precise and intense: after defining and dividing the topics and conducting research, each group produced two drafts of their script before reaching the final version. Writing, revision, and recording were guided by our Italian teacher, Barbara Pizzo, while the technical aspects of recording and final production were made possible thanks to the support of our IT teacher Francesco Massari, leading the 10th ITT students. In addition, with the help of our English teacher Rebecca Gilson, we translated all the content into English, making the project even more international and inclusive.
During the first semester of this school year, final editing was completed and Moonshot! – The Podcast is now finally online: on Spotify, waiting to be listened to. The episodes were released one after another and promoted through our Smiling Science accounts on TikTok and Instagram—two science communication channels managed by us high school and ITT students, coordinated by our teachers Laura Lunghi, Barbara Pizzo, Rebecca Gilson, and Francesco Massari.
We invite you to follow them and listen to our episodes. We hope they spark curiosity and interest, perhaps truly achieving their educational goal. What is certain is that, for us who conceived and created it, Moonshot! – The Podcast represents the union of ideas, voices, technology, and emotions. It was truly exciting to record—but also, in recent weeks, to see primary school children and middle school students admiring the base built together with the older students and stopping to scan the QR codes displayed beside it to listen to our episodes, which helped transform the school into a true laboratory of shared learning.
Moonshot! – The Podcast taught us that achieving ambitious goals requires complete teamwork. There is no science without storytelling, and no innovation without the courage to step forward. Méliès, the “magician-director” and pioneer of cinema whom we discovered while creating one of the episodes, once said about the seventh art, then in its infancy: “Chaque film est un voyage. Fermez les yeux… et le rêve commence.” Every film is a journey. Close your eyes… and the dream begins. We like to think that our podcast is one, too.
Close your eyes. Listen.
Are you ready to travel and dream with us?
By now, you can only read it singing. 🎶
