A Peace Pole dedication ceremony will take place at St. Louis Community College-Florissant Valley on Wednesday, Oct. 2.
The community is invited to the ceremony slated to begin at noon in the horseshoe section near the Administration building.
The event is sponsored by The Institute for Interdisciplinary and Global Studies (IIGS) and by Students of the Global Classroom Club at STLCC-Florissant Valley.
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This is the third Peace Pole on campus and peace messages are displayed in English, Latin, Italian and Cherokee.
“Before the arrival of European immigrants, the land to become known as the United States was home to Native Americans,” said Marcia Pfeiffer, president of STLCC-Florissant Valley. “The Cherokee language was selected for this Peace Pole to honor the many Native American tribes that have made Missouri their home at some point in history.”
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The first Peace Pole displays peace messages in English, Sign, Spanish and French; and the second in English, Arabic, Korean and Swahili.
The Peace Pole Project was initiated in 1955 by Masahisa Goi, Japanese founder of the World Peace Prayer Society, in response to the bombings on Hiroshima. The purpose of the Peace Pole is to spread the message “May Peace Prevail on Earth.”
The message of the Peace Pole is as important now as ever.
“Our campus is a place where we can confront difficult topics and controversial issues in a safe environment,” said Chris Stephens, co-director of IIGS. “What we do is at the heart of peace and democracy. Our goal to learn from each other and develop intercultural understanding is one of inclusion and mutual benefit.
“The Peace Pole visibly reminds us of this important value that we try to model and develop in our students and our community,” Stephens added.
Peace Poles can be found in more than 200 countries and have been dedicated by numerous luminaries including President Jimmy Carter, the Dalai Lama and Pope John Paul II among others.
The dedication ceremony is open to the community. For directions to the campus, visit: http://www.stlcc.edu/Maps/Florissant_Valley.html.
Established in 1962, St. Louis Community College is the largest community college district in Missouri and one of the largest in the United States. STLCC has four campuses – Florissant Valley, Forest Park, Meramec and Wildwood – that annually serve more than 80,000 students through credit courses, continuing education and workforce development programs. For more information about STLCC, visit www.stlcc.edu.
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