The Peacemaker Award

With the Interfaith Council of Franklin County, we honor each year area young people dedicated to peace and justice in their schools and communities.

History of the Peacemaker Awards

In 1999, following the shooting at Columbine High School in Colorado, the Interfaith Council and Traprock brought author and psychologist Ervin Straub to Greenfield to speak about helping youth who are confronted with a culture of violence. It was the suggestion of Father Stan Aksamit that these organizations needed to find ways to recognize young people for their contributions to well-being, non-violence and justice in our communities. The first Peacemaker Awards were given in the spring of 2000. They have continued to be given in recognition to young people of Franklin County since then, and this year we celebrated the 24th annual Peacemaker Awards.

The young people and their families, along with the sponsors who nominated them, are honored in a celebratory program in May. Each of the nominees receives a certificate commending them for their efforts and a small monetary award. We have a chance to not only hear about them but also hear from them about their contributions and their hopes.

As an example of the young Peacemakers diverse work for peace and social justice, here we list the accomplishments of ten Franklin County teens in 2011.

  • Peer Mediation
  • RISE UP program
  • Training Active Bystanders Program
  • Gay/Straight Alliance
  • Life Skills programs
  • Anti-Bullying efforts
  • Students Against Destructive Decisions
  • Peacemakers Summit at Hampshire College
  • Annual Youth Conference

and wider world projects such as:

The Invisible Children program which collected books for students in war-impacted countries in Africa.

In other years we have honored students for working with a horseback riding program for handicapped students and with a micro-finance program, for leading a protest against the violence in Darfur, for assisting indigenous people in Central America, for raising money for Rwanda, and for working with Amnesty International and the Human Rights Commission.