"Peace is our gift to each other."
-- Elie Wiesel
Our 8th annual Peace & Justice Festival was held at school on a beautiful, sunny May Day.
Teacher Eva spearheaded the festival and did a great job with arranging for speakers and organizing the event (while volunteer Mary Steinberg-Pichey arranged for a wonderful spread of food donated by local businesses). Several students helped set-up for the event and clean-up after all the festivities were done for the afternoon.
The program began with a presentation on "Fair Trade" by Melanie Bigalke from Cafe Mam. Martin Jones followed with a talk about Beyond War and "How Military Expenditure Impact Economic Problems" (see video below). 
Next up was Wes Shirley from the Eugene-Springfield Solidarity Network who spoke about the labor movement in our area. Samantha Chirillo followed with a talk about the Oregon Fair Trade Campaign as well as her personal experience of networking for social justice.Here's a video of the Beyond War presentation by Martin Jones, MD.
Head of School, Dennis Hoerner, moderated a student/teacher panel which explored the topic of "Teenagers, Jobs, Fairness." Members of the panel included recent graduate, Mo, current students Nataya and Emily, teacher Eva, 
and parent-jobs specialist, Laurel Henry. Everyone shared their experiences in getting a job as a teenager (or not) and shared their ideas about what would be helpful for young people seeking employment.Our thanks to everyone who helped and participated in the festival (especially Eva!) and to the businesses who provided food and refreshments: Cafe Mam, Sundance Natural Foods, Eugene City Bakery, Toby's Tofu Pate, and Dana's Cheesecake.
See you next year on April 23 for our 9th annual Peace & Justice Festival!
NOTE: See more photos on our Web Albums.
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