The United Nations International Day of Peace will be observed Sunday, Sept. 21 across the world. Locally, the Wellington Rotary Club and the Village of Wellington will host a 3 p.m. observance that day at the Wellington Rotary Peace Park.
At the event, the Wellington Rotary Club will culminate its ninth annual World Peace Initiative, a series of community programs and contests.
“The purpose of the Wellington Rotary World Peace setup really is to raise the consciousness of world peace, conflict resolution and multiculturalism to the people within our community,” said Dr. Wes Boughner, event co-chair and founder of the club’s World Peace Initiative. “We feel we should start with the kids to do that.”
The club has created contests for children to participate in. Elementary school children took part in a poster contest on the theme of world peace. With the freedom to work with various materials, approximately 370 students from five participating schools created and entered their posters. The winning student and teacher from each school won a cash prize of $50.
For middle school students, there was a poetry competition. Approximately 80 students from three schools participated, writing poetry along the theme of “may peace prevail in the world.” The top students and their teachers receive $75.
High school students were challenged with writing an essay based on a quote by an individual who has striven for peace. This year’s quote is from Gandhi, and the two winners and their teachers will receive $100.
The students and teachers will also receive a certificate of thanks when they receive their prizes at the Sept. 21 ceremony.
The community contest, a photography competition on the theme of multicultural understanding, challenged participants to mount and submit either a color or black-and-white photograph of a still life representation of peace. Approximately 20 images were submitted this year.
The Wellington Rotary Club Peace Award is given annually to someone in the community who does work striving for world peace, conflict resolution or multiculturalism. This year, Maureen Holtzer, who teaches Holocaust studies and law studies at Palm Beach Central High School, will be recognized for her human rights work.
The club is also involved with the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts in the community and provides a competition in which scouts can earn a Rotary Peace merit badge. Last year, approximately 60 scouts earned badges.
There is also an award for children who have done something in their school on conflict resolution.
“A lot of kids are thinking about world peace,” Boughner said. “When they start to do their poster, when they start to do their poetry or their essay, they’re thinking about world peace, and that’s what we’re trying to do — to get people to think about it. It’s going to have to start with kids… That’s what the whole program is really all about.”
With almost 50 Rotarians working on the project, co-chair Larry Kemp took care of the competition side of the event, leaving Boughner to focus on the ceremony.
The two work together, said Kemp, who has been helping Boughner with the event since he joined the club almost five years ago.
As Kemp crunched the numbers to determine the impact of the program on local students, he realized that over the last 10 years, at minimum, the program has brought a focus on world peace to more than 3,500 students.
The ceremony takes place at Wellington Rotary Peace Park, located at the intersection of Royal Fern and Birkdale drives. The park contains a walkway leading to a peace pole, as well as many flags.
There are nine peace poles around the park, and a tenth will be dedicated during the ceremony, which will feature Wellington Mayor Bob Margolis, a performance by Palm Beach Central High School’s Traditions choir, the honoring of contest winners and the presentation of the Wellington Rotary World Peace Award. At the end of the ceremony, doves will be released.
The club has flags, benches and other sponsorship opportunities available at the park. For more information, call Boughner at (561) 791-2060.
ABOVE: Dr. Wes Boughner at the Wellington Rotary Peace Park.
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