Category Archives: Peace Education

Bryant Peace Committee

Our Peace program was started as the result of a Disco Party for Peace that was the dream of 8 year old, Sam. In 2007, Sam had his Disco Party and raised over $15,000.00 for children affected by war in Iraq, Sudan and Liberia, and to provide peace education materials for his own school, Bryant Montessori. A Peace Committee was formed in 2008 and students, parents and staff worked together to create a peace program at Bryant.

We kick off each year by rededicating ourselves as an International Peace Site at an assembly the peace committee creates for the International Day of Peace on September 21st. As a Peace Site we commit to the following:

Protect the environment;
Promote intercultural understanding and
Celebrate diversity;
Seek peace within ourselves and others;
Reach out in service, and
Be responsible citizens of the world.

At the assembly, each child creates a written or drawn expression of their commitment to be a peaceful citizen, and each classroom creates a peace pledge, which every child in the classroom signs and then 1 or 2 students present their classrooms pledge to the school at the assembly. Afterwards, the pledge is installed in their classroom. This has been a great way to begin our year and to clearly set our intention and rededicate ourselves as an International Peace Site.

Each year our students choose a focus topic and a continent which we then introduce at the Peace Assembly. We create our program around that focus and implement the focus topic on a personal, school-wide, community and global level. One of our goals is to choose a topic that our students may take for granted, like education and then create the opportunities to learn about the privilege and gift it really is and how the topic relates to peace.

Bryant Peace Committee 2008-09 Education

During the 2008-09 school year as we began our program our focus was on Peace through Education. We accomplished the following:
• We landscaped the front of our school to create a peace garden,
• Peace Banners were created that hang from the ceiling and go down our main hallway by our pre-k and kindergarten children
• We dedicated ourselves as Tacoma’s first International Peace Site.
• We created a peace pole for our peace garden that stands over 6 feet tall and says, “May Peace Prevail on Earth” in 12 languages. The languages represent the heritage of the children in our school and the children in our neighborhood,
• We created an assembly for World Peace Day that has become an annual ritual. It is held each year on or around Sept. 21st.
• Each house created a banner to represent one of our values as a peace site. The banners represent Love, To Protect the Environment, To Promote Cultural Understanding, and to Seek peace within ourselves and others, These banners lead the peace parade at our dedication and now hang in our peace garden.
• We started an after school peace committee program for students
• At the urging of 10 year old, Nurhan, we started a Pennies for Peace Campaign and raised $9,000.00 to build a school in Afghanistan by collecting pennies.

Bryant Peace Committee 2009-10 – Water

In 2009-10 the students chose water as our focus. Our goals were to rededicate our school as an International Peace Site, to create a culture of kindness in our school by implementing a kindness campaign, and to promote an environmental focus on “Clean Water for All”
We accomplished the following:
• We started a kindness campaign in our school. The students a kindness box that sits in the main office. Every classroom has forms available. When a student catches someone going out of their way to be kind, they report them by filling out a ‘You were caught being kind” form. Once it is filled out they put it in the Kindness Box in the main office. Each week the peace committee collects the forms and creates a card for the student thanking them for the specific act they did to promote kindness, and the principal acknowledges highlights a few of the actions and the students who made them, over the intercom.
• We created our own green cleaning supplies, an all purpose spray and a creamy soft scrub that we sell to support our program.
• We made a peace dove out of 6 twin sheets, that has a wing span of 21 feet. This peace dove led our Parade of the Species on Earth Day and is used as a focal point in our assemblies as well as at community events.
• We took twelve of our peace committee members to a gathering at UW Tacoma to meet and listen to a Delegation of Japanese survivors of the Atomic Bomb. Our students made peace doves that the presented the delegation. Afterwards, UW installed their Peace Pole and our students were part of the celebration with their giant peace dove.
• We raised over $6000.00 to provide clean water and a school vegetable garden to the children of Las Maratos, Bolivia with Etta Projects by selling our green cleaning supplies, garden bulbs and plant starts, by starting an after school store on the playground each Friday and selling bug necklaces and organic suckers and by having a school wide coin drive.
• We applied for and were awarded a $2500.00 splash grant by the City of Tacoma. We utilized these funds to accomplish the following:
Over 275 elementary age students visited Puget Creek watershed to deepen their understanding of the connection between what we put down our storm drains and watershed health. One of our 5th grade students asked his teacher, “Are we still in Tacoma?”
We purchased 4 rain barrels for our school gardens. Our children’s house, Lower Elementary, Upper Elementary and Middle School were each given a rain barrel to design and paint. These beautiful works of art were presented to the school on World Water Day and the afterwards installed on our school in time Approximately 450 children were involved in this project.
Envirochallenger presented Down the Storm Drain: Where does the flow go? to over 125 students.
The students and adults of the Bryant Peace Committee planned, organized and implemented a World Water Day Assembly for the 450 students and 50 staff members of our school.
We implemented an Earth Day Garden and Water Festival and Parade of the Species.
Our Earth Day garden party was open to the greater community. We had over 700 people attend and Over 40 vendor, activity and information booths educated and supported healthy garden practices.
Middle School students ran information booths and activities that showed examples of water cohesion and adhesion.
Students and their families made 10 worm compost bins. Families then took home the worm bins to foster them for the school. The compost will be used for our school garden.
We sent home weekly articles on water health to the 425 student families and we put a flyer that included the Salmon friendly gardening tips in the mailboxes of 400 homes.
We purchased books, school aquatic field guides, classroom aquifer models, music cds and videos for our classrooms and school library to increase student awareness of water health.
We purchased materials and built a 3 tier garden compost and tools for our school composting project.
Working with a local artist we created a watershed mosaic.

• We organized a Parade of the Species for Earth Day in which our giant peace dove led parents, students, staff, and neighbors around our hilltop neighborhood dressed as their favorite animals and carrying signs promoting protection of our watersheds.

Bryant Peace Committee 2010-11: Nutrition

Bryant Peace Committee 2010-11: Nutrition
For the 2010-11 school year, the peace committee students have chosen Nutrition as their focus. To date we have
• Provided Leadership training to 6 middle school students,
• Enrolled 30 students in our weekly after school peace program
• Organized a family Harvest for Health Dance at which we will kick off our
• Healthy Food Drive for Tacoma’s Food Connection
• Designed and implemented and International Peace Day Assembly and rededicated ourselves as an International Peace Site,
• Started a tea garden in our school garden to provide herbal tea to classrooms.
• Began collecting recipes for a Healthy Kids Cookbook
• Bagged up over 500 individual servings of a protein mix for the Food Connections Back Pack Program
• Provided an after school class on non-violent communication training to the students in the peace committee.

Other goals for the year include:
• Selling our Whirled Peas Cookbook
• Promoting healthy snacks in our school and at school events
• Raising $5000.00 for Heifer Project in Africa
• Attending the Desmond Tutu event in May at the Tacoma Dome
• Organizing and Implementing an Earth Day Garden Fair and Parade of the Species
• Publish a monthly article on healthy food choices
• Purchasing, Painting and installing 4 more rain barrels on our school.
• Implement a compassionate schools and/or a non-violent communication program in our school.

Etta Projects: Thank you to Bryant Students


Dear Kim & Bryant Elementary Peace Committee:
I wanted to send you handwritten note to let you know how grateful and honored we are to be the recipients of your peace efforts for this past school year. I knew though, that Kim could send it best to you via email so just pretend it is penned by hand.
I work with a lot of organizations in their efforts to do good in our world. Bryant Montessori Peace Committee is one that I tell people about all over the world. I think what you do has such lasting impact on our world. The children you encourage to think and understand their situation in relation to other children in our world is what will create leadership and businesspeople and teachers and garbage men and politicians and environmentalist and janitors and biologist and farm workers and engineers and mechanics and tellers and doctors that will truly save our planet, our environment, and our souls.
These children at Bryant are so very fortunate to have you in their lives, the children of Bolivia and Africa are so very fortunate to have you in their lives, and Etta Projects is so very honored to have you as a part of our organization. We are a better organization because of your organization. Thank you and Congratulations on your accomplishments in our world. We promise the money you have gifted to Etta Projects will change the village of Los Maratos forever.
With total Gratitude,
Pennye
pennyelw@ettaprojects.org


Pennies for Peace


In the winter of 2009 we sponsored a Pennies for Peace Campaign to raise money for schools in the remote regions of Pakistan and Afghanistan. Over 50 schools, businesses and organizations joined us. Pennies rolled in through June and together we raised almost $9000.00. The power of all those pennies will bring in more teachers for the students and make sure students have class rooms to learn in. Together we made a big difference in the lives of these children.

Pennies for Peace: Thank you to Bryant Students


Dear Students of Bryant Montessori,

I am awed and humbled to hear of your remarkable Pennies for Peace campaign. First of all, the amount you have raised is extraordinary. The efforts you have made to help children you don’t know, who are half a world away, are so moving to all of us. It reminds me of something a friend told me once “you have not lived, until you have done something for someone who can never repay you.” I know you are all so proud of what you have accomplished!

Your donation of $8000 can do so much good in Pakistan & Afghanistan. Let me give you an idea, your $8000 can:
• Support one school for a whole year, plus
• Support two advanced students with scholarships, plus
• Pay for one teacher, plus
• Pay for one year’s school supplies for 40 students

When you got started did you ever know you were going to go so far? But what is almost more important is the time and effort you have put into learn about a part of the world so different than yours. I hope in this process you saw the differences between your lives, and the lives of the students in Pakistan and Afghanistan, but I also hope you saw the similarities. Because after all, we are more similar than we know!

If Greg Mortenson were with you today he would tell you two things: 1) Always learn! Always look around the next corner and find out new things about the world; and 2) Take the time for tea, take the time to build relationships, in you school, in your community, and around the world.

Congratulations on your remarkable Pennies for Peace campaign. We are honored to have you participate.

Kindest regards,
Christiane

Christiane Leitinger
Pennies for Peace, Director
A Program of Central Asia Institute
P.O. Box 7209
Bozeman, MT 59771
Tel: 406-585-7841, Direct Line 303-674-7940
www.penniesforpeace.org

“Building bridges of peace, one penny at a time.”

Pennies for Peace: Business Supporters


Thank you to the following schools & businesses for supporting Pennies for Peace:
Associated Ministries
Backstage Video
Bellarmine High School
Body Sacred Therapies
Building Better Bodies
Commencement Bay Coffee
El Charro Mexican Restaurant
Franklin Elementary
Garfield Book Company at PLU
Grant Elementary
Hazelwood Road Coffee/Sprague Car Wash
InSpirit Counselling
Interstate Distributor Company
Intuitive Mind
Justrite Printing
King’s Books
Law Enforcement Support Agency
Main Attraction Hair Salon
Mason Middle School
McIlvaigh Middle School
Metro Parks
NFL Americorps
Northwest Leadership Foundation
Old Milwaukee Café
Peace Community Center
Roger’s High School-Puyallup
Sound Mind Center
South Sound Healers Network
St. Leo Catholic Church
Studio Malulani
Susan O’Brien
Tacoma City Council
Tacoma City Manager’s Office
Tacoma Community College
Tacoma Police Department
Tacoma Police Dept. of Records
Terra Organics
Trinity Presbyterian Church
Truman Middle School
Unitarian Universalist Church
UPS Community Involvement Center
Urban Grace
Vashon United Methodist
Vintage Apartments
Visalusintacoma.com
Washington-Hoyt Elementary


In December of 2004, my son, Sam made glycerin soap for family and friends for Christmas. Sam was 6 years old and he was able to do about 85% of the project by himself. This gave him an incredible sense of accomplishment. After he had made over 60 soaps, he turned to me one day and asked if he could make a soap for each of his classmates. I looked at him and said, “Sam, you have 22 classmates.” He simply replied, “I know.” I reluctantly agreed and we set to work making more soap.

I brought the soap to Sam’s school the Thursday afternoon before winter break. I put a soap in each child’s cubby and then set out to help his teacher with the kid’s folders. As I was working, a little girl noticed the soap in her cubby. She looked at me and asked, “What is this?” I told her it was a bar of soap that Sam had made for her. She looked at me with the most vulnerable expression and asked, “Sam made this for me?” “Yes, and he chose that animal in the soap just for you.” I watched her tenderly take her soap and show it to her classmates. To each person she said, “Look what Sam made for me.” Not in a boastful way, but with a sense of awe and wonder.

I teared up many times that afternoon as I witnessed Sam’s classmates respond to their soap. When we got home I said to Sam, “Sam, could you believe how much your classmates liked your soap?” “Yea, Mom, Donovan said Sam Rocks!” “Wasn’t that something, Sam?” “Mom, that was AWESOME!” It was the first time Sam really got what it means to give of yourself and to have it received. It was tremendously powerful.

Ten days later we learned that a tsunami had devastated Southeast Asia. We talked about what we, as a family, felt we could do and decided to send money right away. I researched relief agencies and sent our small pittance via the internet. After I sent it, I felt impotent. That’s all we were going to do? Millions of people’s lives had been devastated and we were going to send a little money? I sat with this for 2 days and on the third day I posed a question to Sam. “Sam what if we made soap and sold it to raise money for the tsunami clean up efforts?” “OK, Mom, that’d be good” ”Sam, how much money do you think we could raise?” He put his hand on his chin and thought. Then he looked at me out of the side of his eyes and using his pointer finger for emphasis said, “I bet we could raise $200.00.” “What about $1000.00. Do you think we could make $1000.00, Sam?” “Oh, Mom, That would be impossible!” “Maybe not, Sam. If we got your friends to help us, and got other kids involved we could easily make 350 bars. If we sold them for $3.00 a bar we would raise $1,050.00. He thought for a while and then he looked at me and said, “Mom, I’m not even going to guess.”

That afternoon we started the Tsunami Soap Project. Over 400 young people participated in the Tsunami Soap Project. These children came from 4 schools, 1 Cub Scout Group and 2 Neighborhoods. Through their collective efforts they made over 1800 bars of soap and raised over $6000.00 to help with Tsunami Relief. Each group that made and sold soap chose the relief agency where they sent their funds. Monies went to Mercy Corps, Catholic Relief Services, Unicef, Oxfam, and World Vision.

This project gave our children the opportunity to reach out and do something at a time when they, like us, felt so powerless. It taught them that  they can have an impact when they put their energies together. And it showed them that they really can make a difference.