Honoring the NGFS statement of Peace

Honoring the NGFS statement of Peace
Along with the video updates that I have begun the year with, I will be keeping a regular blog to our community. As a staff we are growing in our use of all that is available to us and I feel this is a more interactive mechanism in which to share with the community. I hope to update this regularly and update the video regularly. I hope you are finding these useful in getting more of the overall flavor of all that goes on at NGFS and that the "What's Going on at NGFS" email is giving you the specifics about events that you need. Again hope that your child(ren) are working hard in the classroom, feeling challenged, and being joyful to be at NGFS.

What an exciting week at NGFS! Saturday we found out that NGFS had been selected from applicant schools all over the world to participate in Rock Our World. Others schools selected to participate in this project are located in Italy, Peru, Zambia, New Zealand, Mexico, and Japan. Students in Rainbow and Horizon will have an opportunity to participate. Activities will include creating collaborative songs with students in other countries and video conferencing. The theme for this round of Rock Our World is tolerance, which will tie in well with our studies of peace and equality.

On Monday, One Voice came to speak to Upper Division students and 8th graders in the Commons on the Upper Division campus. One Voice is a group of Palestinians and Israelis that are committed to bringing peace to that area. Our students heard from 3 members of this organization and had a chance to ask questions. I was amazed at the insightfulness of the questions our students asked: ranging from asking about serving in the Israeli military, to understanding the state of life for Ethiopian Jews in Israel, to what is like to travel through Palestine as a Palestinian dealing with checkpoints every few miles.

On Thursday, all classes heard stories of peace of learned of individuals who worked for peace during their lives, this will continue on Monday as well. Monday is officially International Day of Peace. We also had our annual Peace Potluck with the entire NGFS community. Though we had to move this event, but can we complain-the rain is so needed, to the Guilford campus this was a wonderful evening of fellowship for all.

Finally on Friday, we fully establish our relationship with Carl Hobert and Axis of Hope. He will be training many of our staff--all divisions of the school will be represented--and some invited guest to use this curriculum with our students, thus making us the hub school for Axis of Hope.

As a Friends School, the testimony of peace is at the heart of what we do. From our handbook we state, "Friends are committed to settling differences in all human relationships in a peaceful manner..." Carl, through his Axis of Hope Foundation, is working internationally with young people and educators to teach international conflict analysis, management and prevention skills. By teaching them to develop trust, compassion, and empathy for one another Axis of Hope seeks to change the landscape of conflict, and create the prospect of future peace, beginning today. The missions of the two organizations mesh together beautifully. We are so excited about this relationship and the immediate work that will begin with our upper division students and that will eventually take place in middle and lower divisions of the school.

It is truly exciting to see all that goes on in a week at NGFS that furthers not just the academic growth of our students but their growth as human beings as well.