Students on the International Baccalaureate course at Exeter College have been raising the awareness of the International Peace Day – September 21st – with a set of activities based on the theme 'Who will you make peace with'.

The International Day of Peace was established in 1981 by the United Nations General Assembly to coincide with its opening session devoting the day to strengthening the ideals of peace, both within and among all nations and peoples. In 2001, the general Assembly established it as an annual day of non-violence and cease-fire.

The three IB volunteers spearheading the local profile-raising event at the college first found out about the International Peace Day when they attended the IB Student World Conference in the summer.

Maddy Ridgley 17 from Exeter said “The curator of Peace One Day, Jeremy Gilley, was the key note speaker at the World Conference and he encouraged us to organise our own activities for Peace Day, and that's exactly what me and two other Exeter college students did!”

Maddy was joined by fellow International Baccalaureate students Alondra Vera Marino 17, and Caspar Sayany 17, both from Totnes to create a Peace Tree encouraging students to write messages on 'leaves' about how they would act more peacefully today – with comments such as 'I will smile more at people I meet' showing how simple and special many of the messages were.