FREEPORT– On Friday, Sept. 21, the Meadowbrook Montessori School of Freeport will take part in an international art and literacy project, “Pinwheels for Peace” by “planting” pinwheels with messages of peace around the Meadowbrook campus. They will also walk with the pinwheels from West Street to Holbrook Street beginning at 10 a.m.

Pinwheels for Peace is an art installation project started in 2005 by two art teachers, Ann Ayers and Ellen McMillan, of Coconut Creek, Fla., as a way for students to express their feelings about what’s going on in the world and in their lives. In the first year, groups in over 1,325 locations throughout the world were spinning pinwheels on Sept. 21 – there were approximately 500,000 pinwheels spinning throughout the world. Last year, over four million pinwheels were spinning in over 3,500 locations, including the United States, Europe, Asia, Australia, Canada, the Middle East, Africa and South America.

This project is non-political – peace doesn’t necessarily have to be associated with the conflict of war, it can be related to violence/intolerance in our daily lives, to peace of mind. To everyone, peace can take on a different meaning, but, in the end, it all comes down to a simple definition: “a state of calm and serenity, with no anxiety, the absence of violence, freedom from conflict or disagreement among people or groups of people.”

The elementary students at Meadowbrook will create pinwheels, – as part of the creation process, the students will write their thoughts about peace and living in harmony with others on one side. The students will assemble these pinwheels and on International Day of Peace they will “plant” their pinwheels around the Meadowbrook campus and along West Street as a public statement and art exhibit/installation.