Why You Need To Know What Peace Takes Practice Is

Bill Phillips - Speaker @ Peace Takes Practice

Jillian Reynolds

On March 8, the Franklin High School Peer Leaders will be hosting a beloved annual conference. This conference, known as Peace Takes Practice, encourages students from not only FHS but local high schools as well to advocate peace and acceptance among their peers. The leaders of the conference, juniors Sana Shaik and Sophia Sabini-Leite, have chosen the theme “Color Our World” to represent the overarching goal for this year’s conference. Since many FHS students have never heard of Peace Takes Practice, or what exactly it is, Sana Shaik kindly took the time to sit down and answer questions regarding the conference.

How did FHS peer leaders come up with the idea of this conference?

Eighteen years ago a female student from FHS was attacked, causing devastation in Franklin the community. Her best friend, Stephanie Doyle, a Franklin High School peer leader, was heavily impacted and wondered what she could do to help. It was Stephanie’s idea to host a regional student conference pertaining to prominent teen issues, which evolved into the Peace Takes Practice event we host today.

So, what exactly is Peace Takes Practice?

Peace Takes Practice is a conference that Peer Leaders hold every year. We invite exceptional students from our school and other towns, we have speakers at our event, and they speak about their experiences. If they’re from an organization they speak about their organization, if they experienced drug abuse they talk about their journey through that, or they just talk about their life experiences to influence students to make the right decisions in life.

Who is eligible to attend Peace Takes Practice?

Anyone who has been recommended by their club advisor or their coach is eligible from FHS.

What makes this year’s conference any different from past conferences?

This year we changed up the theme and it’s called Color Our World. We are bringing in speakers from different organizations who have different goals; One might be education, another may be drug abuse. We also have a speaker coming from Africa, and she’s going to be talking about her life there.

With the theme being “Color Our World”, what is the message the peer leaders are trying to send through this year’s conference?

We’re trying to send the message that everyone should accept others’ differences, which is really important, especially in today’s changing world.

Who are some of the speakers that will appear at Peace Takes Practice and how do they advocate peace and acceptance towards high school students?

So, one might be Bill Phillips. He’s from New Beginnings in Framingham, and he talks about drug abuse and how he overcame it. Another is Mrs. Fanuele from our school and she’s going to be talking about mindfulness.

 

Why is it important that the FHS student body is aware of what Peace Takes Practice is?

Well, we wanted to encourage all students to be exceptional and strive to get into this conference, because it really does make a difference when you come and listen to all these inspiring speakers.

 

If there is one message you want to reach students attending Peace Takes Practice this year, what would it be?

All students should accept others’ differences and be kind to others around them.

 

Many thanks to Sana Shaik for agreeing to being interviewed. Peace Takes Practice is a wonderful event that advocates peace in high schools and hopefully FHS will be an outstanding example of how peace can have a positive effect on a student body.