As submitted to Northern Valley Press
ENGLEWOOD—On May 23, twenty-six students from 5 Englewood middle schools planted a Peace Pole in Mackay Park in Englewood, marking the 3rd year of a unique program that supports the community.
The Rotary Club of Englewood’s Teens for Peace program was initiated by Dr. Lisa Wisotsky in 2021, when she was President of the club. It became a signature project of the club that brings together middle school students from the public and private schools to explore issues of community, diversity, engagement, equity and inclusion.
When Rotary began the program, Wisotsky said, “Our program helps the students gain mutual understanding, respect and civic engagement. We think it is the perfect way to support and guide young people in our community. It underscores the Rotary’s position of ‘Service Above Self.’”
Rotary International, which is over 100 years old, has always had peace and conflict resolution as one of its core tenets and action items.
The program is facilitated through the Bergen Family Center (BFC). Mitch Schonfeld, Executive Director and CEO of Bergen Family Center, was instrumental in developing it as well as Charlotte Bennett Schoen, Chair of Peace and Conflict Resolution in the Rotary Club of Englewood.
For the last 2 years, the program has received funding from the Community Chest.
Schonfeld believes that “It’s inspiring to see that young people from diverse economic, religious, racial, ethnic and academic settings can come together collaboratively, cooperatively and with enthusiasm and commitment to promote peace in the world, and show adults it can be done.”
There are 200,000 peace poles globally. The peace pole says “May Peace Prevail on Earth” in 8 different languages selected by the students. This year the languages are English, Spanish, Hebrew, Korean, Mandarin, Arabic, Ukrainian and French.
The 7th an 8th-graders that planted this year’s Peace Pole were from Dwight-Englewood School, Englewood on the Palisades Charter School, The Janis E. Dismus Middle School, The Elisabeth Morrow School and The Moriah School of Englewood.
Several dozen people came to the Peace Pole Planting ceremony on May 23, including Assemblywoman Shama Haider, Englewood Mayor Michael Wildes, Englewood City Manager Robert Hoffman and the entire Englewood Cit Council- Wisotsky, Chair Judith Maron, Charles Cobb, Dr. Kenneth Rosenzweig and Kevin Wilson.
Praise for the program and the students were given by Dr. Wisotksy, Mayor Wildes, and Bennett Schoen.
All 26 teens received Rotary certificates of Recognition and a principal of each of the participating schools was given a Joint NJ Senate and Assembly Resolution. A Rotary certificate was also presented to the Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream company, a supporter of the event that gave out free ice cream from their truck. Ben and Jerry’s is known for their corporate peace initiatives support.
Mayor Wildes said, “The Teens for Peace program sets a tremendous example by bringing together students from the various schools and communities that make up our collective Englewood family, helping them to recognize the importance of truly knowing your neighbors and how much stronger we are when working together.”
He concluded his speech with a moving quote by Albert Einstein, “Peace cannot be kept by force; it can only be achieved by understanding.”
Schoen said that, “The students have honored our ancestors and our families and our culture as we intentionally work together for peace building.”
Rotary Teens for Peace 2023 Community Service Project
The pole planting was part of a community service project chosen by the teenagers that began in February.
The students attended 8 weekly workshops at the Bergen Family Center in Englewood, facilitated by Liz Corsini, VP of the BFC.
In these workshops, they worked on building community, understanding and implementing the components of peace and conflict resolution, identifying primary values and identifying community needs.
In her address, Wisotksy explained details of this service project. “The teens described ‘Community’ as ‘People who share similar interests and work together to meet common goals. Members form a system in the same environment where when one is impacted most or all are impacted. Members help each other and reduce conflict. They live together in a space without judgement, and enable one to be oneself, have one’s own ideas and be supported.’
The top 10 values that the students identified were: love, family, peace, freedom, respect, knowledge, fairness, honesty, responsibility & happiness.
The Community needs identified were: Hunger, litter, childcare, homelessness, transportation & mental health.
Given the students’ values, their identified needs and how the describe community, the students want to include their classmates in an effort to help families reduce hunger, help with mental health, and address childcare.
As such, the students went into their schools and asked their administrators to help them to organize “drives” at school to collect essential items for families and children. At each school classmates collected non-perishable canned and boxed foods such as cereal, pasta, soup, hygiene supplies, and diapers and formula for infants and toddlers. They also accepted cash and/or gift cards.
On May 15th at the Bergen Family Center facility, students packed the collected items into bags to be distributed, and the students will made a video about the project to share with families. They also made greeting cards with good wishes to include in the giveaway packs.”
In its first year, the Rotary Teens for Peace Program received a partial grant funding from the Rotary District 7490, and over the last 2 years, they received partial funding from a grant through the Community Chest.
The pole planting in Mackay Park, the culmination of the Rotary Teens for Peace 2023 program, was a joyful event.