U.N. International Day of Peace event pictures

These are pictures taken on September 19th, 2008 at the U.N. International Day of Peace event. First there was an opening ceremony and the ringing of the peace bell. Afterwards we all made our way to the Student Observance portion of the event where we got to hear from four Messengers of Peace (Michael Douglas, Dr. Elie Wiesel, Dr. Jane Goodall, and Ms. Midori Goto) and four youth presenters. The most inspiring moment for me was being able to see live videoconference presentations by students in Afghanistan, Liberia, and Sudan. Another highlight was our own Emily Woodall, who was one of the four youth presenters chosen to address the entire crowd on behalf of Roots & Shoots. The event closed with the ringing of the peace bell and the flag ceremony. In my opinion, this entire event should have been headline news across the nation; it was truly amazing to witness the passion that young people shared toward working together to create peace.