NORWICH – Even in small communities like Chenango County, violence can be seen everyday, and the ideal of world peace is becoming a more and more distant concept, but students at Holy Family School are trying to spread a message of peace in a new way.

Today, students at Holy Family will be taking part in a nationwide initiative for “whirled” peace. The students have created pinwheels that hold messages of peace and will be placing them on the school lawn.

Holy Family event coordinator and second grade teacher Nikole Strano said a parent introduced her to the idea. Strano was quick to point out that the pinwheel display is not a political statement. “The pinwheels represent world peace, but not just in war. It could include peace at war, peace in a community or even peace within yourself,” Strano said.

The Pinwheels for Peace project was started in 2005 by two art teachers in Florida, in an attempt to give students a chance to express their feelings about what was going on in the world and in their lives.