Otisville Elementary School students and faculty gathered on Sept. 20 to mark International Peace Day with an outdoor assembly to reinforce the concept of peace and its connections to kindness.

The United Nations’ International Day of Peace is celebrated on Sept. 21 each year to recognize the efforts of those who have worked hard to end conflict and promote peace. The International Day of Peace is also a day of ceasefire – personal or political.

To mark the day while school is in session, students also carried classroom-made pinwheels to equally mark the international “Pinwheels for Peace” Project, where people worldwide display pinwheels as a visual public statement about peace.

Principal Vincent Biele and art teacher Kara Welsh began the assembly with an explanation of what international Peace Day is and what it means to Otisville’s tradition of celebrating it every year.

Fifth-graders from Tara Frawley’s class read the Peace Day pledge; and teachers Tasha Buchler and Laura Bendlin, along with all the 4th Grade classes sang, “Nothing More” by The Alternate Routes.  Cynthia Careccia’s class shared its Peace Day poem.

The assembly ended with everyone singing “I’d Like to Teach the World to Sing” under the direction of Maria Fenfert and a reminder about each student and teacher’s kindness “superhero powers.”

To see more photos, visit’s the district’s Facebook page.