Star of the Sea Middle Schoolers Promote Peace

middle schoolers placed more than 100 pinwheels on the front lawn of the school early Wednesday as a display and reminder to passersby of International Day of Peace. 

The students prepared a pinwheel as part of an art project focusing on ways to promote peace, art teacher Ann Tignanelli said. Each were a prompt about war and asked to write about ways to create peace, she said. 

In addition to war, the students were encouraged to write about ways to reach peace locally, such as in their home, Tignanelli said. 

International Day of Peace has been recognized and celebrated since 1982 and this is the first time Star of the Sea students have had a project in conjunction with it, she said. 

The day has become more significant in the U.S. since Sept. 11 and the 10 days between are encouraged to be used as a timeframe in which people encouraged to celebrate and promote peace, Tignanelli said.

After the students wrote their answers to ways to promote speech, each created their own pinwheel. The students, Tignanelli and Deacon Bill Jamieson, gathered on the front lawn early Wednesday to display their pinwheels.

The hope, Tignanelli said, is that the display will remind passsersby of the importance of peace both locally and globally.

Students completed the writing/art project through their religious education course, Edge, which is a non-denominational curriculum that focuses on relevant and comtemporary issues. It is not the traditionally thought of religious education class focusing on the history of religion, she said.

Peace is often one of the topics in the course.