Chesterfield students use pinwheels to celebrate International Day of Peace
By: Cara Latham
CHESTERFIELD The space shuttle Atlantis and its astronauts returned safely from their trip to the international space station, Karen Brilliant, art teacher at the Chesterfield Elementary School, reminded the whole school during its first general assembly of the year last week.
But Ms. Brilliant had a larger message to convey to the students, in grades K-6: the first three astronauts who flew into space and landed on the moon in July 1969 came in peace for all of mankind, and that message is still important today.
"The fact that they came in peace for everyone in the whole world; it was foremost in their minds," she told the students. "That should be foremost on our minds, as it should be every day peace with ourselves, in our own lives, peace in our school, and peace in the world."
And the students expressed the need for peace by making pinwheels and placing them in the grass along the running/jogging track behind the school on Sept. 21, also the International Day of Peace.
After the assembly, the 356 students, of every grade, took their "pinwheels for peace" and marched outside to the track, where the fall breeze swiftly spun their creations.
Sixth-grader Jarrett Quinn said the day was important because everybody was doing something good.
The students were "setting an example for other countries to do the same have one day of peace, just one day," he said. "One day of no violence, no wars, no fights."
Ashleigh Lemanski, a third-grader, said, "I think that it helps our country a lot, and to me, peace shows freedom."
The "pinwheels for peace" movement was started last year by two teachers in Florida who dubbed the slogan "whirled peace," and Ms. Brilliant had read about the idea in a magazine, and thought it sounded like a good idea.
It was important for her students to "visually display the importance of peace in ourselves in our daily lives, and in the world," she said.
The event was "excellent," she added.
"We were glad for the beautiful weather," Ms. Brilliant said. "It was a really great idea. I’m glad it worked out, and the kids loved it. The pinwheels were actually blowing in the wind, which worked out nice."
Before placing their pinwheels along the track, the students also took a pledge of peace and vowed to set an example for others to follow.

