Students 'pin' down the need for peace
Brunswick Acres Elem. plants pinwheels to represent hope
BY CHRIS MURINO Staff Writer
For one day, it seemed as if all was right with the world, and the students at Brunswick Acres Elementary School in South Brunswick made it seem that way.

JEFF GRANIT staff In recognition of the annual International Day of Peace on Sept. 21, hundreds of students at Brunswick Acres Elementary School in South Brunswick created an art installation called "Pinwheels for Peace" on Friday.

On Friday, in recognition of the International Day of Peace, students planted pinwheels in the ground, featuring their thoughts and drawings on peace, love and understanding.

To start off the event, the students gathered in the gymnasium to discuss their projects.

"I asked you to think about how to create peace," said Suzanne Tiedemann, the art teacher who spearheaded this event. "You thought of things like sharing, giving compliments, or just being nice to each other. Then I asked you to think bigger and beyond the art room, in our school, in our community, in our homes and in our world."

A video was shown from peaceoneday. org, a Web site founded by Jeremy Gilley, who fixed the day Sept. 21 on the calendar as Peace Day. According to the United Nations, over 100 million people were active on Peace Day in 2007 in 192 countries. In Afghanistan, 1.4 million children were vaccinated against polio.

JEFF GRANIT staff Ken Kowalski, a teacher at Brunswick Acres Elementary School in South Brunswick, reflects on the meaning of peace during the planting of pinwheels on Friday.

Pinwheels for Peace was started in 2005 by Ann Ayers and Eileen McMillan, two art teachers from Coconut Creek, Fla. Over 1 million pinwheels were planted last year.

Each of the children made a commitment for peace day — one thing they would do on that day to promote peace.

"Do I expect you to go around the world and meet world leaders?" Tiedemann asked to a resounding yes from the students, which drew some laughter.

Tiedemann said she thinks it's great to create art to express your feelings about what's going on in the world today. She found out about the event online and at the Art Educators of New Jersey Conference. She said she's been surprised by the things the kids have been saying. She started the project on the first day of art class, with the kids making their pinwheels.

"We were going over the rules of the art class and we included peace into the rule, so it figured in nicely," Tiedemann said. "Some students said more small things, such as helping around the house," she said.

Others thought bigger. One girl wanted to put up peace signs on her lawn to let the community know just how important peace was.

"The pinwheel is such a symbol of children's hope," Tiedemann said.

On the pinwheels, some drew the peace symbol, while others drew pictures of their family. The activity was particularly special for 10-year-old Brandon Zircher.

"On my pinwheel, I wrote 'peace, love and freedom,' " he said. "It's really important to me because I have two family members in the war."

During the planting, many kids walked in lines, holding their pinwheels high, blowing in the wind. Music blared messages of peace and some kids even sang along.

Ronnae Walker, 10, drew a heart and a flower on her pinwheel.

"Love is peace," she said. "And flowers make a lot of people happy."

Many parents were in attendance, as well. They thought it was a great event that made their children happy.

"Any kind of effort to let the kids know what's happening in the world is great," said Joe Scimemi, father of daughter Gianna.

"It's not just an art project," said Hal Ketofsky. "It's a global thing. My daughter was very excited about this. She's into art and into music. She's always doing lemonade sales and donating money."

Ketofsky's daughter Lindsay donates her money from the lemonade sales to animal shelters.

"[This project] is really fun, because we're doing it for peace," she said.

Some classes took the event a step further. Theresa Castrantas' first-grade class traced their hands on a piece of paper, cut it out and then formed a picture of a dove from the cut-outs, creating their "dove of peace."

Ken Kowalski's fifth-grade class joined in a circle around their pinwheels after they were planted. He asked his students to think about what colors they saw, what movements they saw, what shapes they saw, and what sounds they heard. He was even incorporating the project into a writing assignment for the day.

The pinwheels remained outside all day, but were taken home at the conclusion of the day so that the students could have them for International Peace Day on Sunday.