Freshman music major Payson Maydew receives a pinwheel from graduate student art therapy major Kristi Gildner on Tuesday morning. Student Art Therapy Organization (SATO) distributed their pinwheels for a project called pinwheels for peace in Memorial Union.
Yohan Kim/The Bulletin
To celebrate the International Day of Peace tomorrow, the Students of Art Therapy Organization set up a booth to make Pinwheels for Peace in the Memorial Union Tuesday.
Pinwheels for Peace is a project started in 2005 by two high school art teachers from Florida, Ann Ayers and Ellen McMillan, as a way for students to express their feelings about what’s going on in the world and in their lives, according to Pinwheelsforpeace.com.
“The pinwheel is something to express creativity and make awareness of peace nationally and internationally,” said Erin Carter, graduate art therapy counseling student. “It is a project that has been implemented over the past seven years, and it’s something we think is an awesome project, and it’s an awesome thing for national peace day.”
The pinwheel is used as a symbol of freedom and peace. Additionally, Carter said a pinwheel is easy to make, which enables people to create and imagine their own ways to pursue world peace.
As co-president of SATO and one of the organizers of the project at Emporia State, Carter said that SATO sent out pinwheels to people earlier this year to make sure that they could have the pinwheels and plant them in the ground in advance.
Last year was the first year Pinwheels for Peace took place on the ESU campus. SATO gave out about 300 pinwheels around campus. They also uploaded the photos of the activity to the International Peace website. This year, SATO wants to get more people involved in the project to spread the message about world peace.
“I really like the International Peace Day,” said Becky Schuldt, graduate art therapy and mental health counseling student and co-president of SATO. “It kind of brings people together and reminds them that we are peaceful people.”
The group hopes to spread the message of International Peace Day all over campus.
“Hopefully they can carry the message, and it can give (students) more awareness,” Schuldt said. “I think it is a good experience for people to (take part).”
Chelsea Litfin, sophomore pre-art therapy major, said that she likes the project very much, and it is “a really sweet way of remembering the day.”
As of press time on Wednesday, the group had already handed out over 150 pinwheels.