Local scholarship winners honored alongside 2026’s guests from Italy

The Sedona-Oak Creek Canyon Lions Club welcomed its two Italian exchange students — Enrico Panicciari and Vincenzo Coppola — who will be exploring the American Southwest for four weeks, on Saturday, Aug. 8.

The club also welcomed back its 2026 Sedona Red Rock High School scholarship winners Vincent Smith-Shayawatt, Glenna Barnes and Adalynn Moore at the meeting.

“Thanks to the Lions program, I’m getting in touch with people from different cities who speak different languages, English, Spanish speakers,” Panicciari said. “That’s the essence of Lions: Building an environment where everyone is the same, and where we can really feel at home.”

Panicciari, 22, is from Vasto, Abruzzo on the Adriatic coast. He earned his bachelor’s degree in foreign languages and literature in February from University of Pescara and said he is now pursuing a master’s degree in foreign languages for business and international cooperation.

“I think that the beauty of studying different languages is to understand how different people with different backgrounds live,” said Panicciari who speaks Italian, English and Spanish. “You don’t just study the grammar and the vocabulary and the pronunciation, you study how is the life of that person in a different country. I think that we Europeans love to speak and learn languages because it’s mandatory right now to speak more than your native language, since English has become the lingua franca. But what really unifies Europeans is trying to understand others not just through the culture, but also through the language.”

Coppola, 23, is from Matera, Basilicata, the province between the “heel” and “toe” of the Italian “boot.” He studies naval engineering at the Polytechnic University of Bari and is a member of Lions Club 108 YA. He’s worked on boats since he was 16, spending three or four seasons on a sailboat off Sardinia, Naples and Sicily, and now works for a charter company teaching people to sail.

“I do maneuvers to handle the boat in the port, and help people stay safe in the sea, because the boats are big and people can’t sail for the first time,” Coppola said. “I teach them to sail, I show them how to sail.

“I want to stay in a boat. I want to work on a boat. I want my own boat, and to transport people around the world.”

The Italian students arrived on Aug. 3 and will leave on Monday, Aug. 31.

Sedona Lions Club member Sandy Immerso said she plans a cultural activity and a physical one nearly every day, and at meals, she has them speak in both English and Italian, working on pronunciation.

“I know how important it is to speak another language when you travel, and how important it is to be able to enjoy other cultures and other people,” said Immerso, who taught Italian, Spanish and English for 35 years, including at Lawrence High School and Hofstra University. “The more you know the language, the more you can understand them.”

SRRHS Graduates

Smith-Shayawatt is headed to Northern Arizona University to study business and finance, and cited the Lion’s scholarship as giving him some financial breathing room.

“It just helps me not have to work as much at a full-time job during college,” he said, “helping me focus more on studying in classes rather than working a part-time job while being a full-time student.”

Money wasn’t the point, though, Smith-Shayawatt said. “I just want to be rich, not in the sense of money, but in happiness, family, wealth, all of that. I want to be rich at the end of the day.”

Barnes, a longtime Interact Club volunteer, is headed to NAU’s honors college to study business marketing with a minor in international studies.

Moore is headed to Yavapai College to study nursing, and cited the Lions’ volunteer work and donations as what stuck with her most.

Anyone wanting to learn more about the Lions Club can reach out to Club President Randy Crewse at 928-300-7141.