To celebrate the United Nations’ International Day of Peace, Peer Mediation held their annual event of creating a Human Peace Sign symbol during Atom Time. Several students and teachers gathered to help support the Peer Mediation class.

“I brought the students that were in my class during Atom time because I wanted to do my part to promote peace,” English teacher Kathleen Mathis said. “I thought it was very well-organized; there was a very positive vibe going around.”

This was Mathis’ first time attending the event, and she plans to bring her class again next year.

Students in the class set up cones to show students where to stand to make the peace sign during W2. They also made a CD with songs promoting peace, such as John Lennon’s “Imagine” and Michael Jackson’s “Man in the Mirror” that played during the project.

“I thought that this went pretty well, definitely better than last year,” senior Nisha Sarath said. “It actually looks like a circle this year.” This is Sarath’s first year in Peer Mediation. She joined because she was interested in helping solve conflicts and the overall process.

“I’m very grateful for the students that came out, as well as my students who helped organize it,” Peer Mediation teacher Kate Mounteer said. “I was also fortunate because the administration and the athletic department were very helpful. We were very thankful to have beautiful weather.”

Mounteer wanted to remind students of the motto of the day, that “A world of peace begins with each individual.”

“We like to be able to teach students when we do things like this, so students should speak gently, listen carefully and act kindly,” Mounteer said.

This was the second year that Peer Mediation formed a peace sign for International Peace Day.

“We chose to do it last year because [Peer Mediation] is all about conflict resolution and solving conflicts, and we thought it’d be good to observe the International Day of Peace,” Mounteer said. “We wanted to be a part of the other observations all around the world.”