This year, High Meadows celebrated its 5th annual Peace Vigil. As always, there was music, poetry, meditation, and celebration. What was different, however, was that this year’s Peace Vigil was held in conjunction with a Community Gathering, allowing the entire school to participate in the event. High Meadows School is an institution that believes in peace, and it made perfect sense to make a shift that afforded everyone the opportunity to reflect on and celebrate peace.

 

As an International Baccalaureate (IB) World School, we adhere to the IB mission statement, which calls us to "develop inquiring, knowledgeable and caring young people who help to create a better and more peaceful world through intercultural understanding and respect." Over the years, the peace vigil has served as a vehicle for developing intercultural understanding and respect. Students have written original poetry, recited in multiple languages, and sung songs about peace that ranged from classical to contemporary to spiritual.

 

According to our Commitment to Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice, we are an institution that “empowers individuals to create positive change for a more peaceful world.” Our peace vigil is just one example of how students use their own creativity to foster peace. Peace begins within. We can only inspire peace in the world if we are first focused on creating peace within ourselves and our communities.

We cannot inspire peace in the world, if we are not inspired to create peace within. We cannot create peace in the world, if we do not focus positively on a vision of peace in the world.

 

The United Nations General Assembly established the International Day of Peace in 1981. Each year, a different theme is celebrated worldwide. This year’s theme, “Act now for a more peaceful world,” would be applicable in any year at High Meadows, as we are always empowering students of all ages. Students participated in a global project to create peace cranes with inspirational messages that will be sent to the International Peace Monument in Hiroshima, Japan. From the Pre-K and Kindergarten students who sang “My Own Two Hands” to the fourth and seventh graders who read their winning poems from the 2025 Inspirational Messages of Peace Contest, High Meadows students model and appreciate peace every day.