The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
St. Gabriel School celebrates ‘Pinwheels for Peace’
For the second consecutive year, St. Gabriel School of Concord is doing its part in hopes of making the world a better place.
Though International Day of Peace is observed Sept. 21, about 700 pinwheels were symbolically planted a day earlier on the campus, in front of the school, at 9935 Johnnycake Ridge Road, as a part of “Pinwheels for Peace.”
This year, the entire student body, preschool through eighth grade, assembled the pinwheels, calculated in square yards, to form the word “PEACE,” which was coordinated by art teacher Erin Delventhal.
The nonpolitical, international art and literacy installation project was started in 2005 by Monarch High School art teachers Ann Ayers and Ellen McMillan, of Coconut Creek, Florida, as a way for students to express their feelings about what’s going on in the world and in their lives.
In its first year, groups in over 1,325 locations throughout the world were spinning pinwheels on Sept. 21 — about 500,000 throughout the world. In 2014, over 4.5 million pinwheels were spinning in over 3,500 locations throughout the world.
Principal Donna Lee Saladino said that this year students and staff benefitted from “upgraded” materials in addition to a heightened and collaborative educational focus.
“We used plastic over paper this year, as last year’s pinwheels were drooping in the dew. This year’s pinwheels also explore the concepts of friction
on surface and what makes a pinwheel spin to incorporate STEM learning. STEM and projectbased learning fits so well in our school because it answers questions and solves problems. And that helps better our students for when they get out into the world and focus on careers, and how to make a difference. It goes really well with our values and our purpose in our school, especially when it’s tied to something authentic.
“This is our contribution to help the world know about peace and change, and to encourage people to do their part,” she said. “We’re always in
a growth mindset. We’ve already started planning for next year. At the end of last year, we started discussing what we wanted to do and as school started, they started working on it. This year, we’re going to try to carry the theme through the year to see if there are other ways we can incorporate it as a year-long project. The key thing is to have a purpose, a central, driving question, and for us it’s how can we contribute to world peace and encourage others to do the same.”
Eighth-grade students Ben Matejka and Jordan Leigey both agreed the project serves as more
than just mere artistic creation.
“I think it’s very important to have everyone come together and work together for peace,” Jordan said. “That’s what everyone should want in the world and I think it’s a cool project.”
Ben realizes working together, especially on a community level, can have a meaningful impact on others.
“It’s really amazing how the younger kids and the older students have worked together, too, to make this happen to promote peace in world,” he said.
St. Gabriel School Pastor Rev. Fred Pausche acknowledged
the staff and student collaboration, also, noting that commitment to change starts right where one lives.
“It’s so good we’re doing this together, and it’s important that the children don’t just view this as another activity,” he said. “We all have a part to play in trying to establish peace in the world. My hope is the tradition will continue not just in external form with the pinwheels, but rather with a growing awareness of how important our prayers and efforts are for peace, and that children really understand that this is really critical in our world.”