Buist Students Push for Peace

Buist Academy students set aside a whole day recently to promote peace, to end international conflicts and to stop bullying.

The local effort, which involved yoga, soccer, pinwheel planting and forming a human peace sign, is part of the International Day of Peace, a U.N.-approved day of cease fire and non-violence across the globe.

The school encouraged students to write on handmade pinwheels their thoughts on war, peace, tolerance and living in harmony with others. Students planted their artistic creations on the Whipple Road school's lawn.

Students in kindergarten, first and second grades also participated in events on Peace Day that helped promote inner peace. They engaged in soccer, yoga, hula hoop, music, dance and art. 

Those students also supported the school’s anti-bullying and peace campaign, “Be a Buddy, Not a Bully.”

The International Day of Peace, also known as World Peace Day, is celebrated annually on Sept. 21. The day is noted with the ringing of a Peace Bell at U.N. Headquarters in New York.

The U.N. officially began recognizing the day in 1981. Though only symbolic, organizers hope one day that world leaders will lay down arms on Sept. 21 and negotiate an end to conflicts.

"We try to picture those who wage war laying down their arms and talking out their differences," wrote U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan in 2001. "We try to picture all governments listening to — and acting on — the will of the people."