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Thomas Blaylock When Thomas Blaylock was in second grade, he became frightened and disheartened when he heard about yet another tragic school shooting. But, rather than let his fear get the best of him, this plucky 8-year-old decided to take action. He approached the principal of his school and told him that he wanted to feel safe in school and asked what they could do to make all kids feel safe in school. Moved, the principal approached Thomas' mother and discussed Thomas' concern with her. This short chain of events led to the creation of a group called Together in Peace (TIP) at St. George School, Thomas' private school in Tinley Park, Illinois. TIP meetings are mainly attended by parents of St. George students and, of course, Thomas. One of the first TIP meetings produced a program that rewards children for learning and playing peacefully. When teachers "catch" a child behaving in a peaceful manner, the student receives a TIP coupon. The children write their names on each TIP coupon they receive, and place it in a container. Each week, one name is drawn, and one lucky student in each class receives a special rewardlike a Dairy Queen Blizzardfor his or her peaceful behavior. The next year, when Thomas was in third grade, he saw a short article about The Lion & Lamb Project in a toy catalog at his grandmother's house. Thomas promptly visited Lion & Lamb's Web site and decided that he would like to organize a Violent Toy Trade-In to further promote peaceful action at his school. He then implored his mom to call Lion & Lamb and order a Toy Trade-In manual so he could organize an event. Upon receiving the Toy Trade-In manual, Thomas' excitement was further bolstered by the Lion & Lamb Peace Calendar included with his manual. The Peace Calendar outlines peace activities that students, teachers and parents can do throughout the year to encourage children to think about what peace really means and to implement it in their own lives in real ways. Inspired by the Peace Calendar, Thomas went back to his principal to pitch his new ideas. Once again, his efforts proved successful. This year, each grade in his school chose to complete one activity on the Peace Calendar. For example, the eighth grade students created a "Hero Quilt." For the quilt, each student contributed a square that depicts or symbolizes one of their personal heroes. The kindergarten class has chosen to plant a peace garden at the school to give all the students a truly peaceful place where they can slow down and reflect whenever they are overwhelmed by anger or stress. Thomas is also organizing a Violent Toy Trade-In at his school to be held later this year. Not content with these initiatives, Thomas and TIP have also identified some of the root causes of non-peaceful behavior at his school. In an effort to reduce cliquesalong with the bullying often bred by themTIP initiated an assigned-seating program at lunchtime in the school cafeteria. The assigned seating mixes up the students and often encourages them talk to other students who arent in their immediate friend group, or who they might not normally talk to. For future TIP meetings, the group plans to further focus on how to stop bullying at school and initiate specific activities, like an anti-bullying poster contest. While Thomas' anti-bullying work could easily make him an object of bullies himself, most of the students do not even know that he inspired many of these initiatives, thanks to Thomas' modesty. However, Thomas' contributions do not go unnoticed by everyone. "I am impressed by the keen insight demonstrated by Thomas," notes Mr. Edward Weston, Principal of St. George School. "He shows a remarkable awareness of the negative effects of bullying. He comes forward with some very positive solutions. I suspect that much of what he learned has been modeled at home." You may ask yourself, how can one 8-year-old ignite so many positive changes? Maybe his youth has shielded him from an ugly trap so many of us fall intomaybe no one has ever told him that he cant change the world. So, he will. Thomas concurs, "I am doing this because I think that school should be one place that kids can go that is safe. All schools should be a place of peaceno student should be left behind. We can be the next generation of peace!"
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