HS Students Deliver a Sign of Peace

To commemorate International Peace Day on September 21, Amityville Memorial High School students formed a human peace sign on the school’s front lawn and “planted” pinwheels for peace in the ground.

Some students also wrote and recited speeches about tolerance and created colorful posters displaying messages of kindness, peace, equality, and unity throughout the building. Others sang short songs or raps that carried these messages. Members of the school’s Warrior Awareness Club, also known as the “WAC PAC,” designed “peace rocks” and handed them out to their classmates as symbols of their friendship.

Art teacher Jayne Grasso in conjunction with WAC PAC advisor and teacher Jason McGowan coordinated Amityville Memorial High School’s Peace Day activities, with support from the high school’s fine arts department and administration.

International Peace Day was established by the United Nations in 1981 to coincide with the opening of the UN General Assembly. It was designed to provide individuals and organizations with an opportunity to create practical acts of peace in unison on a shared date. The Pinwheels for Peace project was started by two art teachers in Florida in 2005 to encourage students to decorate peace pinwheels and display them publicly on International Peace Day. The phenomenon has since grown tremendously throughout the country.