Jared Rio’s Human Rights classes celebrated International Peace Day in the quad during lunch Monday, September 21.

International Peace Day is a widely celebrated event dedicated to peace, nonviolence and ceasefire. The annual event was first established September 21, 1981 by the United Nations General Assembly and was first celebrated the following year.

Rio organized an exciting day at the quad gathering students of different backgrounds to celebrate and raise awareness of International Peace Day on the West High floor.

When asking students about this event, most of them had never heard of it. Senior Ben Seagrave in Rio’s Human Rights class believes International Peace Day will have a huge impact in later years as more awareness spreads.

“I believe in world peace and that we should all have equality and rights for everyone because everyone deserves a good chance at life,” said senior Pailyn Kelley.

Rio keeps faith that International Peace Day does have a significant impact. “We’re a globally connected planet now, so what happens here impacts other countries. It’s more important now than 15 years ago,” said Rio, “We’ll be closer to get the numbers and successes, but we’ll get there eventually.”

When asked about how we can achieve world peace, a majority of students said spreading awareness or becoming active in the community. Senior Sammer Sheikh said, “Compromising between countries, having open and honest discussions with citizens in your country and generally being an all-around humanitarian. World peace starts from the top, by that I mean our political leaders.”

Studies show that violence occurs most in our everyday school hallways, which is why awareness needs to be spread and actions need to be accomplished.