The International Day of Peace was celebrated worldwide on Sunday, Sept. 21, with schools planting trees as symbols of hope. At Punahou School, Jess Utsumi’s 4th grade class joined in by planting two māmaki trees on the slope of the Sidney and Minnie Kosasa Community for Grades 2 – 5 the next morning, Monday, Sept. 22.
The morning began with a prayer from Chaplain Luana Uluave, who spoke about how beauty, joy and love can overcome the world’s sorrows.
Following the prayer, Kumu Andy Nelson and Kumu Shelby Ho ’01 from the Outdoor Education department introduced the māmaki trees to the students and described their healing qualities. A native Hawaiian plant, māmaki is used to make tea that lowers blood pressure, and it is regarded as both powerful and restorative – a fitting symbol of peace and good energy. With hand trowels, the students dug into the soil and planted the young trees together.
For the 4th graders, the experience served as both a lesson in caring for the land and a reminder that peace must be planted, nurtured and lived every day.