AUBURN - Students at Herman Avenue Elementary School planted the seeds for peace Monday.

In honor of the International Day of Peace, the Auburn Enlarged City School District elementary school and schools across the nation participated in Pinwheels for Peace, an art installation project.

Students planted 208 pinwheels into grass, forming the peace sign, to implant an understanding of and advocacy for unity, tolerance and cooperation.

A long string elevated by colored plastic stakes formed the peace sign - a line dividing a circle into halves with a triangle embedded within - which students used as a guide to insert their handmade and individually decorated pinwheels into the ground below.

Shelby Cushing, 9, and Isabella Siddall, 8, both of Auburn, pointed to a pinwheel decorated in the nation's stars and stripes as the one they like best.

Dominic DiFabio, 9, and Buck Haines, 9, said that these pinwheels are a reminder of the freedom Americans have and that people in the country and around the world have to respect one another.

“It's very good to respect others,” Haines, of Auburn, said. “We want to show that to the whole world.”

Added Cushing, “It's to have a better earth.”

School art teacher Jessica Rice said she found Pinwheels for Peace - established three years ago by two Florida art teachers - as a way for students to express their feelings about the world and their lives. This year, her first-, third-, fourth- and fifth-grade students created pinwheels that best represent their ideas about harmony, peace, tolerance and unity and planted them in the school's front yard.

Pinwheels for Peace also ties into the school's character education program.

“The character education piece is something (students) need to think about in a broad sense because if we don't think about peace, we can't think about living in harmony,” she said.

Students at Weedsport Elementary School also spent Monday morning unveiling their pinwheels and planting them in a peace sign shape on the front lawn.

Organized by art teacher Melissa Beerman, the day's celebrations featured a morning assembly outside, during which students said a peace pledge and sang “Peace on Earth,” taught and conducted by music teacher Mary Buchman, before planting their pinwheels, Principal Timothy Cowin said.

The school's character education program teaches students that they have to care and respect others, be honest and fair.

“That's what peace is all about,” he said, “and that's what we want to impress upon our students.”

Staff writer Alyssa Sunkin can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 239 or alyssa.sunkin@lee.net