Each year in September, the Rotary Club of Wellington holds its annual Peace Ceremony aimed at promoting multi-cultural understanding and conflict resolution as a means to world peace. This year, the ceremony will be held on Sunday, Sept. 21 at 3 p.m. at the Rotary Peace Park on Royal Fern Drive near the Wellington library.
The ceremony is the culmination of work that started in January with competitions within all local schools. Elementary students were encouraged to submit posters that depict multi-cultural understanding and conflict resolution. More than 350 posters were submitted and judged. A winner from each school was chosen and will receive a check for $75 and a certificate at the ceremony.
Middle school students enter poems on the same topics. Approximately 100 poems were received, and a winner from each school will each receive a check for $100. High school students submitted essays on a chosen theme. A winner from each school will receive $125. All the winners’ classroom teachers will also receive a check for $75 for use in their classrooms.
A single student is also chosen as the person who is deemed to have contributed the most in achieving the goals of the Wellington Rotary Peace Initiative.
Each year, a high school student who helps bring their classmates together is awarded the Student Mediation Award for Resolutions Today (SMART).
The annual Wellington Rotary Peace Prize will go this year to Diane Gutman for her work with Our Community Cares supporting the local senior community.
The peace ceremony commences with the PBSO drill team providing an honor guard and playing “Taps” as flags are raised by the Wellington High School Interact members. The words on the peace poles — “May Peace Prevail on Earth” — will be read in eight different languages by local residents.
After speeches by local dignitaries, including Vice Mayor Tanya Siskind reading the Wellington Peace Declaration, and the presentation of prizes, the ceremony will end with Dr. Wes Boughner’s release of peace doves. Boughner, the father of the club’s peace initiative, developed the annual ceremony beginning in 2006. Most club members have volunteered to help support the program.
The community is welcome to attend the ceremony, which lasts for approximately one hour.
