West Woods Upper Elementary School, Farmington, Connecticut
After the students, who worked with Art Teacher Marie Ringquist, created their Youth Art Peace Pole the Student Ambassadors of West Woods Upper Elementary School put their thoughts into words:
Lily Alpern, age 11: It makes me proud to be part of the Peace Pole Project because I feel good supporting world peace. It is connected to the diversity group beliefs- Never judge anyone. Keep the world a peaceful place.
Aiden Gravina, age 11: World peace means a lot because of wars. A lot of people die. With world peace, there would be less wars, and people would be happy, safe, have jobs, have a better life. There would be not post dramatic stress disorders. World peace on earth is very important.
Emma Zenobi, age 11: Creating the Peace Pole makes me feel happy because I feel that I created a monument of Peace. I painted the words in French,”Puisse la paix regner dans le monde”, and I painted a peace sign. World Peace is important. In school there would be no bullying of fights. Peace starts here at school.
Margaret Fishman, age 11: I feel very proud to be chosen to design the Peace Pole. It is very important to have Peace. I didn’t know about diversity or Peace poles or World Peace, but now I do. I cannot imagine a world without peace. I imagine a world with people who are nice to each other, no bullying and being mean to each other. They will grow up to be good people and very nice to each other. That is what world Peace means to me.
In addition to these quotes above, Other students shared what they thought on two topics. Below are comments from the Diversity Ambassadors regarding the Peace Pole Project:
Question: How does it make you feel being selected to represent Connecticut as the Peace Pole Creators?
Answers: -It feels awesome because it makes me special. – It makes me feel important because I’m doing something that will help people. – Good, because not many people can be chosen – It feels really exciting and good! I feel like I am making a big difference to people in CT. – It felt great because I don’t think I’ve been in something so important. – It makes me feel proud and confident. Why? Because I get to show the world that I believe in me.
Question: What does world peace mean to you? Why is it important?
Answers: – I just know that it’s important. – Peace means that people get along and are nice to each other. It’s important because war is really bad. – It means peace between people. It is important for not fighting. – World peace means everyone is nice around the world and there is no war. It is important because if everyone is nice in the world, it is a very happy place. – World Peace means everything to me that is because it is so important to other people. – It means to give people what you want so they can do it back to you but with a smile in their faces.
