Winning Perspectives On Peace

Congratulations to the Sayville High School students Ian Besso, Kerishma Panigrahi, and Matthew Muller (alternate James Muller) for winning First Place in the Shanti Fund Peace Perspective 2008 Debates.

The Shanti Fund, a Long Island-based charitable organization committed to enlightenment and peace through education, recently sponsored a Celebration of Peace that coincided with Gandhi’s Birthday. During this two-day event at the H. Lee Dennison Building in Hauppauge, students from many Long Island schools and organizations took part in the variety of activities. In addition to a peace poster competition, peace walk, peace-related songs, and skits, there was a peace debate, scheduled for middle school and high school students.

Several weeks prior to the debate date, each participating school received the three questions on the theme of “peace in our communities” for which they would need to prepare. The Sayville students, under the guidance of their high school debate coaches Brian Bennett and Sabine Loriston, formulated three answers that proved to be the most logical, the most effective, and the clearest in the competition—earning them first place in the competition .

Subsequently, the Sayville team will be presented a certificate by the Suffolk County Executive’s Office and a gift card for $139, representing the number of years since Gandhi’s birth.