A Peace Pole was added to River Falls Public Montessori Elementary during the last school year and will stay there. A Peace Pole brings together hopes and dreams for peace.
The words “May Peace Prevail on Earth” are written on four sides of the monument. This serves as a warning to pray for peace around the world.
For this reason and because it was International Day of Peace, the Montessori held a program on September 20.
The statue also shows the different languages that students speak at the school, like Arabic, English, Spanish, Otjiherhero, Portuguese, Greek, Ukrainian, Latvian, and English.
A group of people at Montessori called the “No Place for Hate Team” worked hard to get the pole and raise money to make it possible. They sold “No Place for Hate” buttons for $350 in just one week last spring, which was their goal.
The group began last year when the principal and school counselor at Montessori saw a need to bring attention to the school’s positive work.
Kai Rodgers, Principal of Montessori and Staff Leader for the “No Place for Hate” team, said, “We wanted to get some school leaders together to talk about all the good things about the school.”
The Anti-Defamation League has a group called No Place for Hate that has information on how schools can make their environments better.
The team also held monthly assemblies to honor people who work to make the world a better place to live and ran a program using sticky notes to send positive messages to everyone at Montessori.
The team started out with 10 people, but now there are 27 student leaders in grades 4 through 6.
“We value and work toward peace above all else.” Chief Kai Rodgers said in a press release, “Our students thought that the Peace Pole at the front door would be a great way to remind everyone that we work to celebrate our differences, accept others, and be good citizens in our school community.”
Students talked about world peace by painting flags of different countries, saying “May Peace Prevail on Earth” in different languages, and singing “Light a Candle for Peace” as a group.
Karen Swanson, the counselor and staff leader for the “No Place for Hate” team at Montessori, said, “The district is so on top of character education, and this team really gives us our own Montessori spin on it.” “Those kids made me so proud.”
The RFPME Peace Pole is now the fourth of its kind to be recognized in Wisconsin, thanks to the monument. The other three are in Webster, Omro, and Milwaukee, Wis.
“Being a good person is important not only for yourself, to get along with your friends and neighbors, and as a citizen of the world,” Rodgers said. “These thoughts of peace will stay with them forever.”