Highland Middle School Students Plant Pinwheels for Peace

Highland Middle School students planted pinwheels on the school’s front lawn on Sept. 21, as part of a Pinwheel for Peace project.

This was the second time students participated in the project under Highland art teacher Megan Russel. Students "planted" a pinwheel someone at the school made.

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.

According to the Pinwheels for Peace website, about 500,000 pinwheels were planted in 2005. That grew to about 3.5 million by last year, when Highland Middle School joined the project.

“Every day, 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.”

- Libertyville Elementary District 70 submitted this information.