Waverly Hosts Annual Peace Garden Planting

Peace is in the air at Waverly Avenue Elementary School.

This week students at the school in Holtsville took part in the annual “Peace Garden” planting event, a tradition that started in the late 1990s.

During an assembly, principal Dennis Kelly and teachers reinforced the message of living and working in harmony to make the world a better place.

They shared stories from books with corresponding messages, fifth graders read essays they wrote about peace and the chorus sang a new song about Covey’s “7 Habits of Highly Effective People,” which was written by music teacher Bonnie Businski.

Students planted bulbs, which were donated by Bissett Nursery, with their personal peace promises, in front of the main entrance as a culmination of the festivities.

“It’s a tradition of the message for the children, how they can make promises to themselves and they’re reminded of it in the spring,” said Kelly. “Bringing all of these things together is something I don’t think kids think about a lot. Doing it Thanksgiving week is great because it brings a lot of messages together.”