2006 FIRST PLACE

WHAT ABOUT PEACE?
Caitlin Dold
17 years old, New York

Peace is a virtue everyone should strive for. The term "peace" has many connotations. There is peace instead of war, to have a peace of mind, to live harmoniously, to be at peace, and to keep the peace. In times of war, the warring nations wish for peace. To have peace of mind is to be happy with who you are. To keep the peace is to keep others from quarrelling. I have dealt with promoting peace and acceptance within my diverse high school.

My high school is made up of a wide variety of ethnic, religious, and socioeconomic groups. I have made an effort for four years to keep the peace by encouraging the diverse group of students at my school to get to know and accept each other. I realized, as a result of a student government leadership overnight, that I could be as empathetic to the broad student body as I had been with my circle of friends. I learned that being a leader is about listening to others with an open mind. I talked with the people on the overnight, we opened up about uncomfortable high school experiences, and it became clear that we had all dealt with prejudice of some sort. We realized that unfortunately, the majority of students at my school handle prejudice by closing themselves off to diversity, staying close to others like themselves. The more we talked about the importance of representing all of the students and leading by being open and accepting of everyone and their ideas, the more I realized that being a leader was something I wanted to explore. Since that trip I have looked for opportunities to be a leader. I have tried to act as an example by becoming friends with a diverse group of people and help them get to know each other. Through this I have been able to promote acceptance of diversity and to keep the peace.

I have also learned that peace among students facilitates educational success. When students are accepting of one another, they are able to learn from each other, sharing their different ideas, backgrounds, and cultures. Students are able to learn from one another’s perspectives and with an open attitude they are given a chance to see things from others’ perspectives. I have seen how peace and harmony in a learning environment can have lasting effects on the students. When students are given the chance to be open with one another, they create bonds with one another, they learn from one another, and those behaviors can last beyond school years.

Peace takes many forms, which makes it something to strive for. In times of peace, growth of oneself is possible. The concepts of peace and acceptance have had a major impact on my high school experience and I am confident that it will have an even greater impact on my college experience.