Posted September 23, 2011

Students at Southgate (top) and Blue Creek Elementary School gathered together this week to celebrate International Peace Day.

This week, students from Southgate and Blue Creek Elementary gathered together to celebrate International Peace Day.

The International Day of Peace ("Peace Day") provides an opportunity for individuals, organizations and nations to create practical acts of peace on a shared date. It was established by a United Nations resolution in 1981 to coincide with the opening of the General Assembly. The first Peace Day was celebrated in September 1982.

In 2002 the General Assembly officially declared September 21 as the permanent date for the International Day of Peace.

As part of this year’s program, students from both schools shared their writing in the form of poetry, describing what peace means to them. Themes shared included helping one another, celebrate peace every day, and cooperation.

"Peace Day is important to Southgate as we know it is not just about ending conflict but is also about fostering acceptance, building tolerance and appreciating differences," Southgate principal Jerri Lynne Dedrick said.

Both Southgate and Blue Creek will have their own Peace Pole on display in the front of their school this year. The Peace Pole will be used throughout the school year to display ribbons representing acts of community and character demonstrated by groups of students and classes.

Blue Creek's Building Council choose to honor bus drivers to show students that the drivers are respected members of the school community and that behaving during bus rides helps create a peaceful environment.

"Students don’t always understand that the bus ride to and from school each day is part of the school community,” Blue Creek principal Annette Trapini said. "We feel it is important to help them (students) understand that our PeaceAble school culture needs to extend to their bus ride to and from school. We also want to recognize the transportation staff as playing a major role in setting the tone for the school day. When students have a safe ride to school with a kind, caring and friendly driver, they are off to a great start for a peaceful day.”

Since its inception, Peace Day has grown to include millions of people in all parts of the world, and each year events are organized to commemorate and celebrate this day. Events range in scale from private gatherings to public concerts and forums where hundreds of thousands of people participate.