Buck students make pinwheels for International Peace Day

Before the school year started, Nicole Barci, a new part-time art teacher at the William L. Buck School, saw on her calendar that Sept. 21 was the United Nations’ International Day of Peace. She then decided that she would commemorate the day by having her students design their own pinwheels with positive messages on them.

She got the idea to have the students design pinwheels from Pinwheels for Peace, an organization that seeks to spread the ideals of peace through the creation of pinwheels.

“I wanted to really do something that would lead an impression on the students and faculty,” she said, adding that pinwheels are “fun, they’re vibrant and they’re happy.”

To start off the project, students in kindergarten through sixth-grades discussed some of the problems in the world, including bullying, hurricanes and even terrorism. “They were definitely aware of some of the not-so-peaceful things in the world,” Barci said.

Words of peace and encouragement were then decorated on pinwheels in her art class, which were planted in the ground on Sept. 25 at a ceremony during which the students sang songs about peace.

“…Every child came up with their own pinwheel, it was really meaningful for me as an educator to see them together,” Barci said.

In the end, Barci said she was happy with the turnout. “It was a fantastic start to the school year,” she said.