| 6/11/2008 3:22:00 PM | Email this article • Print this article |
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| Cowern students, working in teams across grade levels, were out adding plants around the Peace Pole May 23. "May Peace Prevail on Earth" is written in six languages. |
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The Cowern Peace Garden was dedicated May 28, culminating the past 6-months of projects to become an International Peace Site. Peace pledge, songs, poems, readings and the formulation of the Cowern Peacemakers are part of conflict resolution and making a more peaceful and protected environment. Students went on to place stepping stones around the labyrinth and Adirondack chairs. The project was embraced by the community, including work by local Minnesota Naturalists and businesses.
Student teams made colored tie dye t-shirts and created concrete stepping stones to be placed in the Cowern Peace Garden. |
| | Cowern Elementary peace pledge | "For as long as the moon rises, for as long as the grass grows green, for as long as the rivers flow, we will be friends, we will live in peace."
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Cowern Elementary brings life to its peaceful practices
School builds garden; becomes International Peace Site
Katy Zillmer
staff writer
Even with the end of school and three months of fun and sun in sight, Cowern Elementary students and staff redoubled their efforts to finish a six-month project just in time for the final bell to ring.
On May 28, a ceremony was held to dedicate the school as an International Peace Site and recognize a peace garden the students and staff made to honor that accomplishment.
International Peace Sites are one of three programs offered by World Citizen, a non-profit organization in St. Paul with the mission to support peace education and the concept of world citizenship.
The organization's main push is its Peace Education Program and also its annual Nobel Peace Prize Festival.
Prior to coming to Cowern, Principal Sonya Czerepak worked in the Centennial School District - at Centerville Elementary - where the principal there decided to make the school an International Peace Site.
When Czerepak moved on, she remembered what Centerville's principal, Kathy Millington, had done.
Millington is now the executive director of World Citizen, which was founded by Lynn Elling and launched on United Nations Sunday in 1982, according to its Web site.
The Cowern peace garden is a culmination of efforts by the staff and students. They created a peace pledge, songs, poems and readings and formed the Cowern Peacemakers, which is made up of students and teachers who meet, Czerepak says.
The group includes students from all grades who meet with a different teacher each month, she says. "We figure the more students are encouraged to practice peace-making language, the more it will become part of their everyday life."
The language and practices the school has used in the last six months include treating others with kindness and respect and in ways that don't hurt people's feelings, Czerepak says.
Becoming an International Peace Site and building a peace garden takes everything to another level.
World Citizen offers workshops for schools that are International Peace Sites to learn how to work the practices into their existing curriculum, Millington says.
Not all peace sites build a garden, but she says it is an outward display of a school's practices, plus some of the other principles World Citizen promotes:
• Protect the environment
• Promote intellectual understanding and celebrate diversity
• Seek peace with yourself and others
• Reach out in service
• Be a responsible citizen of the world
"By being a peace site, you're letting the community know that is what you care about and that is what you strive for," Millington says.
There are about 250 peace sites in Minnesota, a majority of which are probably schools, Millington says.
Schools that practice the peaceful principles see a "huge" decrease in discipline problems and behavior issues become easier to handle because strategies are in place to solve problems, she says.
And Cowern is just getting started.
In addition to the monthly Peacemakers meetings, the kids had a "no name-calling week" and offered incentives to students such as free pencils and "kindness counts" tickets, Czerepak says.
With the peace garden, students and teachers planted flowers, crafted stepping stones out of concrete and included a "peace pole" provided by World Citizen.
The pole displays the message, "May peace prevail on Earth," on each side and written in four to 16 different languages.
Over 200,000 peace poles have been erected in 180 countries, according to World Citizen's Web site.
The community helped Cowern to build its peace garden, as the school was able to raise more than $3,000 to cover the project costs, Czerepak says.
"It's just a commitment to having a peaceful way of living for our kids. We've got more and more diversity in our schools, and we realize these peace-making skills are something we have to continually work at," Czerepak says.
"We're just trying to do our best to do our small part to make the school peaceful. One thing that World Citizen says is, 'We have really so much in common, any part of the world that we live in, because we all have the same needs ... we all need to be loved and respected."
Katy Zillmer can be reached at kzillmer@lillienews.com at 651-748-7822.
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Reader Comments
Posted: Thursday, June 12, 2008
Article comment by:
kathy millington
Thank you for writing such a wonderful article about Cowern Elementary's effort to promote respect. They are to be congratulated.
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