Highland Middle School Students Create Pinwheels For Peace On Sept. 16, Plant Them On Friday, Sept. 19
Highland Middle School students will plant pinwheels on the school's front lawn on Friday, Sept. 19, as part of a Pinwheel for Peace project.
This is the fourth year students have participated in the project under the direction of Highland art teacher Megan Russel. Students will create the pinwheels throughout the day during their art classes on Sept. 16 at the school, 310 W. Rockland Road, Libertyville.
Students are expected to "plant" a pinwheel in front of the school between 8 and 8:45 a.m. (The bulk of the planting is to take place between 8:15 and 8:40 a.m.) More than 1,000 pinwheels will be planted in front of the school. The International Day of Peace this year is Sept. 21.
Pinwheels for Peace is an art installation project started in 2005 by two art teachers, Ann Ayers and Ellen McMillan, who taught at Monarch High School in Coconut Creek, Florida. The project began as a way for their students to express their feelings about what's going on in the world and in their lives. The project was quickly embraced by the entire school community and then by millions of art teachers, teachers, parents, children and adults who desire peace in our world.
"I love the sense of "community" that this project brings to the Highland family," Russell said when noting why she repeats the event every year. "Every student participates and creates the pinwheels on the same day. It is great to see the positive chatter that it creates among the students and staff; everyone in the school discussing the individual project they crafted and the universal message it creates of peace in our society on the day we all come together to install them."
According to the Pinwheels for Peace website, about 500,000 pinwheels were planted in 2005. That grew to about 3.5 million three years ago when Highland Middle School joined the project.
"Everyday, we are bombarded with television images, video games, music, and magazine articles/newspapers that give importance to conflict and war," said Russell. "Violence has become commonplace and accepted as part of our society and, for some, it is a way of life. It is our hope that through the Pinwheels for Peace project, we can make a public visual statement about our feelings about war/ peace/ tolerance/ cooperation/ harmony/ unity and, in some way, maybe, awaken the public and let them know what we are thinking."