Central Okanagan students and staff celebrate Harmony Day

Photo: Contributed

Staff and students at Helen Gorman Elementary designed a "Journey of Hope" canoe. The canoe has five paddles to symbolize harmony, optimism, perseverance, empathy, and mus?s (the Okanagan/Sy'ilx word for hope). Students wrote their names on the paddles to demonstrate the unity of their school community.

While we have been living with images and stories about conflict and disagreements in recent weeks, Okanagan school children are pointing the way to a different path.

Central Okanagan Public Schools students and staff celebrated the 15th Annual Harmony Day on Wednesday, with a virtual living library and the theme of HOPE, which stands for harmony, optimism, perseverance, and empathy.

"Hope is also the theme for our entire district this year," said Kevin Kaardal, SD 23 superintendent. "More than ever, we need to find hope and we need to create mutual understanding and respect for each other. We're grateful for the diverse panel of presenters who will share their stories with our students and inspire the hope and empathy we all need right now."

Indigenous artist Carey Newman and local teenage singer Scotty Berg connected with students through virtual presentations and shared a variety of stories for students to learn and explore identity. The goal is to help them understand and appreciate culture and lived experience.

Grade 12 student artist Neela Radar designed a t-shirt to commemorate the day, "my design was inspired by the idea that hope and harmony create one another," said Radar.