May 19, 2004
Students promote peace
430 elementary students attend seventh annual Peace Rally
By Carol South
Herald contributing writer
Hula-Hoops, the Macarena and tag may not seem like ingredients for peace, but for 430 area upper elementary school students they were part of learning to get along during the seventh annual Peace Rally.
Held Thursday at Traverse City Central High School, the Peace Rally featured games, music, dance and sharing - all geared to reinforcing messages of peace.
"I like this, we get to have fun and still learn and be safe," said Kaleb Horn, a fifth-grade student at Blair Elementary School attending his second Peace Rally.
After a get-acquainted activity, groups of students rotated among three activities throughout the four-hour event.
One activity was a game of tag that required players to carry tagged students to a safe zone, where they could 'recover' and play again. Another featured a range of small group activities that required cooperation as students passed a Hula-Hoop from person to person around a circle. Facilitators from Wedgewood Corporate and Human Resources guided these activities.
"I liked doing the tag, it showed that you need other people to get around in life," said Alyssa Ellsworth, a fifth-grade student from Interlochen Community School. "It's not just you."
For the third activity, area musician and educator Donna Shugart led students in a variety of peace songs and lessons. She also taught each group the Peacemakers Macarena, prompting all students to boogie for peace.
Wearing matching shirts and striving for matching outlooks, the rally culminated with a peace march. More than 100 students from Central High School, West High School and East Junior High School helped during the rally.
The Peace Rally had two purposes: reinforce peaceful conflict resolution techniques and let students interested in peace get to know one another.
"One of the things I really like is that kids meet from other schools who will go to junior high together and they will know each other," said Kristin Sulecki, the school social worker at Central Grade and Cherry Knoll Elementary schools. "They also like working with the high school helpers; a lot of them were peacekeepers themselves."
Participating students are members of their elementary school's Peacekeepers or Peace Patrol program. Dubbed peacekeepers, these volunteers patrol the playground at recess to settle disputes among their peers using conflict resolution principles. Some students at the rally serve as hall monitors at their school.
Peacekeepers are students in grades four through six who complete conflict resolution training at the beginning of the school year. During the 10-12 hours of training, they learn to help others use words to settle conflicts or disagreements.
When they are called to help on the playground, a peacekeeper's first step is to separate the conflicting parties for a cooling off period. Then they get them together to talk over their differences. Each person in the conflict gives their perspective and then all work together to resolve the issue.
"It's just really fun to help others solve problems, it feels really good," said Jamie Halstead, a fifth-grade student at Blair Elementary School.
Conflicts that cannot be solved quickly or that involve more than two people require teacher intervention. However, peacekeepers are often able to resolve the common playground flare-ups quickly and fairly, satisfying everyone involved.
Horn got involved in peacekeepers after a playground incident when he was younger. When he reached fourth grade he decided to join so he could help other students.
"One time, a kid grabbed me and threw me down and a Peacekeeper helped me get back into my classroom and find a teacher," recalled Horn. "It felt really good that they helped me and afterward I saw them and heard about them more."