Students plan annual Peace Summit at school

Julie Brown, Staff Writer

Students at the Rotary Club-built schools in Gao, Ghana
depend on the support of local groups like the high school
Interact Club for school supplies and materials. 

Ninth- through 12th-grade students from Plymouth-Canton will learn about peace and conflict resolution at a Saturday, Jan. 18, forum in the cafeteria of Salem High School, 46181 Joy Road in Canton.
The annual Peace Summit will be presented from 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Jan. 18 for students through Interact, the high school arm of Rotary International.
“The purpose is to educate our young adults as to the needs of world service,” said Chuck Lang of Canton, an adviser to the Plymouth-Canton Interact and member of the Rotary Noon Club of Plymouth.

The theme of the Peace Summit this year is Building Worldwide Foundations for Children. The goal is to collect $5,000 to help provide school supplies for the children of Guo, Ghana who will be attending a school built by District 6400 Area 5 Rotary clubs from Canton, Livonia, Northville and Plymouth.
The original school in Guo was built in 1957 and in 2015, Area 5 Rotary Club members built a kindergarten facility and then built a second school in April of 2018. The $5,000 goal will purchase critical learning materials that are desperately needed to provide an appropriate education for the children, Lang said.
During the Peace Summit, students will learn about the necessities of children in third world countries and have the opportunity to communicate with then through a Pen Pal experience, he said.
Students from Plymouth-Canton Educational Park as well as private/parochial schools in Plymouth-Canton are asked to sign up through the SignUp Genius link on the district website www.pccsk12.com. Admission is by a donated canned good or food item such as cereal, dry pasta, sliced bread or applesauce. Toiletries are also sought for a local food bank.
Registration is required through the school district link. More details are available at pcepinteractclub@gmail.com .
Lang noted that hunger in the Plymouth-Canton community which is reduced by the Jan. 18 collection of canned goods and food.
“I'm not surprised at all. There are poor people that live in Plymouth” and Canton “that are in need of food.”
The Rotary District 6400 has also invited the 24 local Interact clubs, he added, with six of those high school clubs having responded by Jan. 6. In years past, some 100-150 high schoolers have attended the Peace Summit.
Community members are also encouraged to donate for the school supplies in Ghana.