At Country Day School, Peace on Earth—from the Heavens!

Peace Day, as the crow flies: students from Country Day School in Guanacaste, Costa Rica form a giant, playing-field peace symbol, to be captured in an aerial photograph by CDSG’s “Peace Pilot” (photo: Country Day School).

Mother Teresa maintained that “peace begins with a smile.” Much peace, then, must have begun on International Peace Day at Country Day School (CDSG) in Guanacaste, Costa Rica, when dozens of smiling students, parents, teachers, and school staff joined to promote this virtue in themselves, one another, and the planet.

While the day itself was in no short supply of the spectacular—featuring presentations, song, personal pledges, and an airplane flying overhead from which aerial photographs were taken of the day’s participants holding hands in peace symbol formation—preparation for the day began long before its celebration.

Inspired by brainstorming sessions at a world peace summit she attended in Vancouver in 2009, CDSG parent and industrial designer Gabriela Valenzuela initiated the large-scale idea for the event, presenting a wealth of information and possibilities to school staff and speaking with real feeling about the importance of instilling a sense of peace in the young.

From there, a team of parents, teachers, and students worked together to design a day worthy of the noble goal behind it.

The day devoted to peaceful unity began, appropriately, with assemblies. Kindergarteners and Grade 5 students presented a poster and poems they had created, while Grades 1 and 2 took to the stage, performing original skits featuring themes that focused on peace in the classroom.

Grades 3 and 4 organized an inspiration circle, and while soft music played and their lower-school peers and teachers sat in the meditative milieu, eyes closed, students walked around whispering positive comments in each person’s ear: “You are really smart” … “Thanks for being such a special friend” ... “You are my favorite teacher of all time.”

As lower school students worked to empower and elevate one another with words of positivity and peace, upper school students were treated to PowerPoint presentations by juniors and seniors.

History teacher Kelsey Sullivan’s Modern Conflict class researched historical leaders and figures famous for having employed non-violent methods for solving conflicts and promoting peace, and a packed classroom of students, teachers, and parents took in inspiration by example.

Students highlighted the lives and work of Costa Rica’s own Oscar Arias as well as Irene Khan, Sadako Sasaki, Harvey Milk, Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King, Jr., Gandhi, and the 14th Dalai Lama.

Truly, peace begets peace, and the day reminded everyone that to create peace, one must be peace. Parents such as Mary Ann Augustine brought in peace-themed books to share with others present, and many shared stories and strategies for promoting feelings of love and calm in themselves and others.

Ms. Valenzuela noted that the act of creating Peace Day itself created peace. “There is a real power in unity and creativity, and getting together to create anything brings a loving and warm feeling that brings peace,” she said.

Another highlight was the grand gesture of the day—the airplane overhead. All Peace Day participants, garbed in white, formed a gigantic peace symbol on the soccer field and waited with proverbial bated breath for peace pilot Alex Cavaletti and his plane.

After the perfect circle and symbol were formed, the suspense built. Conversations took place. Peace fingers flashed. The hokey pokey happened. Eyes shined. And smiles spread from one ear to the next as auditory evidence of the plane’s presence came first. Valenzuela said that this moment alone made all of the organizational effort worthwhile.

“My favorite part of the day was waiting for the airplane together for those ten minutes outside, holding hands, and when it finally flew overhead everyone instinctively elevated their hands to welcome the airplane, and the look on the children’s faces was so incredible,” she said.

“When we were on the soccer field, sweating and suffering from the intense humidity and heat, and we stood in a peace sign formation holding hands, I felt we were connected. I felt a strange flow of positive energy flowing through our bodies and we were no longer separate islands; we were connected underneath,” she said.

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