Celebrating the International Day of Peace together

Worldwide, September 21 marks one universal day, where people from all ages, nationalities, cultures and walks of life, come together in one unified purpose: to celebrate a day of peace.

In 1981, the United Nations established the International Day of Peace by a unanimous resolution of all member nations. Today, it is a shared date for people all around the world to commit to building a culture of peace.

On this special day, Shanghai Community International School students were encouraged to come into school wearing clothes representative of their home country or countries. With over 60 nationalities represented within our community, school hallways were filled with vivid and colorful traditional dresses proudly worn by our international students.

Ti Gong

Lighting a candle for peace — SCIS ECE campus celebrations

Over at the Hongqiao Early Childhood campus, our youngest learners lead the celebrations in the morning by congregating in the gymnasium to sing songs of peace in harmony. Pre-school through Kindergarten classrooms sang their hearts out.

The highlight of this morning’s celebrations was when everyone was handed a blue-lit candle and, with the window shades pulled down and the lights turned off, the entire gym gave a heart-warming rendition of: “Light a candle for peace.”

The ECE community came together again in the afternoon to share for a picnic. Parents were invited to come to school and bring dishes from their home countries. It was a perfect way to wrap up a wonderful day of celebrations.

Speaking one Universal Language — SCIS Pudong celebrations

Across the river at our Pudong campus, the whole school gathered in the theater to witness the annual parade of nations. Students marched across the stage dressed in traditional clothing, representing their home countries and greeted the audience by saying “hello” in their native language.

Throughout the day, there was not only visible evidence of a culturally diverse student body, but an indescribable sense of international mindedness that makes SCIS a special place to learn.

(The article is contributed by Mikael Masson, marketing officer of SCIS.)