Stockton dedicates peace pole
By AUBRIE GEORGE
The Cherry Hill Sun
10/4/2008

Students and staff at Richard Stockton Elementary School showed their dedication to being ambassadors of peace by dedicating a Peace Pole to the community on Sept. 22.

The Peace Pole displays the words “may peace prevail” in 12 different languages, which represent each of the ethnic backgrounds of the student body.

To commemorate the dedication, students stepped forward to read the phrase in the language that represented their family heritage. The 12 languages include Spanish, French, Arabic, Hebrew, Italian, Hindi, Chinese, Russian, Korean, Dutch, German and sign language – which was represented on the pole in Braille.

To begin the dedication ceremony, students marched around the school in a peace parade to the tune of “It’s a Small World.” Many of them were clad in light blue, the symbolic color of peace day, and in their hands, they held flags they made in art class representing nations all over the world.

Each classroom had designed stones with the initials of every student on them. The stones will be placed around the Peace Pole, which is situated in front of the school. The PTA also placed several pinwheels outside the school as another symbol of peace.

Principal Eloisa DeJesus-Woodruff said the pinwheels are a symbol of childhood and are a reminder of when things where calm, simple and joyful.

Students surprised the district’s assistant superintendent, Lawyer Chapman, with an award thanking him for his service to the school and for being an ambassador of peace though 50 years of working in education. They thanked him for always being a fair person and for spreading peace through Cherry Hill.

Work hard every day and go to school every day, and you can be whatever it is you want to be,” Chapman told the students in response.

Superintendent David Campbell was also present at the ceremony, and students ended the day’s festivities by singing the Stockton school song to him and the rest of the administration, faculty, staff and parents.

Woodruff said the students had also spent the morning in meetings where they learned about peace and how to promote it.

Stockton’s Peace Day was celebrated in harmony with the United Nation’s International Day of Peace, which is celebrated every year on Sept. 21.

According to the International Day of Peace’s Web site, www.internationaldayofpeace.org, it is a global holiday when individuals, communities, nations and governments practice and highlight efforts to end conflict and violence and promote messages of peace.

A peace pole is an international symbol of peace that is placed in communities to promote the hope for peace on earth. There are more that 250,000 peace poles in 180 countries around the world, Woodruff said.

Stockton’s Peace Pole is located outside of the school, at 200 Wexford Drive. Stockton educates children grades kindergarten through fifth. For more information on what Stockton’s Ambassadors of Peace are doing, visit www.stockton.cherryhill.k12.nj.us.