Teacher Jeanette Thompson of CICS Northtown Academy wrote: “Once we knew about the Peace Pole it was somewhat difficult to figure out what we were going to do with it. We took a day to sketch out some ideas on what we will want the Peace Pole to look like. We shared our ideas and our teacher showed us two copies of peace messages in different languages that were provided to her with the Peace Pole. We wanted to included the messages on the Peace Pole; therefore, we asked our Multimedia class to use their tech skills make the messages look more appealing in order for us to put them on the Pole. We picked some of the messages, cut them out, and placed them on the Pole with gel medium. Next we had to choose a color for the background that would represent peace. Our teacher suggested lavender and we agreed. We painted the Peace Pole, taking care to avoid painting over the messages.
Then we thought it needed something a little more to make it special. Therefore, we added some silver swirls all over and some green and orange leaves. The leaves represent nature and how the leaves change colors over the seasons. Nature, to us represents peacefulness.
Our school had a Peace Fair where we asked students to write peace messages in order for us to fill our Pole with caring words. We put the messages into recycled soda bottles and place them inside the Peace Pole. Finally, we wanted to show that peace is needed all around the world; therefore, we placed a small globe on top of the Peace Pole. Our school is very grateful to have been giving this opportunity to receive the Peace Pole for the state.”
