The Rotary Club of Wyndham Harbour celebrated the Peace Essay Competition Award winners on 21st September (UN International Day of Peace). 

Children from several schools in Wyndham as well as Hay, NSW entered the competition. 

A panel of judges consisting of Rotarian Peace Fellows and an experienced Rotarian assessed the essays and found them remarkably perceptive, honest, creative, thoughtful, wise and entertaining. 

The children wowed the audience when they read out their essays. 

It was a joyous evening, with one of our members (Steven Andrews) entertaining everyone during the break with songs on his guitar all the way from Portugal! Many thanks to the children, their parents and families, school teachers and principals, Rotarians including Peace Fellows, other guests, our Peace Team and club President Sola (Dr. Akinsola Akinbiyi).

• Archer Gill  - St. Mary’s Primary, Hay
• Inayat Sharma - Bellbridge Primary, Hoppers Crossing
• Jarin Tasnim - Bellbridge Primary, Hoppers Crossing
• Joelynn Citro - Bellbridge Primary, Hoppers Crossing
• Sebastian Mineo - Bellbridge Primary, Hoppers Crossing
• Karleigh Abrenio - Our Lady of the Southern Cross, Wyndham Vale
• Priyashi Debnath - Bellbridge Primary, Hoppers Crossing
• Rivini Muthukudasinghe - Our Lady of the Southern Cross, Wyndham Vale

Judges: 

• Tania Miletic - Assistant Director of the Initiative for Peacebuilding at the University of Melbourne 
•  Patricia Garcia - Partnership Development Manager at the Institute for Economics and Peace 
•  Jessica Trijsburg – PhD Researcher: Equitable Inclusion and Community Resilience at Monash University. 
• Elaine Pratley - Co-Chair at the 24-hour Global Peace Conference Cultural Intelligence trainer 
• Bob Fairclough - International Chair and Past President, Rotary Club of Hoppers Crossing 

 Teachers and principals. 

Special mention for those who have gone out of their way to get their students involved: 

• AlyshaJarvis,AssistantPrincipalatBellbridgePrimarySchool,Hoppers Crossing
• KristenBoyd,LiteracyLearningSpecialist,IramooPrimarySchool
• Catherine Nelson, Teacher at St. Mary’s Parish Primary School in Hay 
• Vincent Campbell, Principal at St. Mary’s Parish Primary School in Hay 
• Chris Hunter, Principal, Jerrabomberra Public School, NSW 

All other schools whose students sent in essays: 

• Point Cook P-9 College, Feather-brook P-9 and Allamanda College, Point Cook; Our Lady of the Southern Cross, Wyndham Vale; St. Clares Catholic Primary, Truganina and Auburn South Primary School East Hawthorn. 

Rotary ‘Peace Pole Clubs’ 

Other Rotarians: 

• Woden Daybreak, ACT (Helen Lilley)
• Canberra Burley Griffin (Michael Rabey) 
• RotaryNomads
• JerrabomberraRotary,NSW 
• Gabe Hau – Rotary District 9800 Peace-building Chair 
• Julie Mason – Facilitator, Rotary Leadership Institute & Principal, Baden Powell College 
• Michael Rabey, Rotary Centenary Peace Pole Australia champion 

Our Club (Rotary Club of Wyndham Harbour - RCWH) 

President Dr. Sola Akinbiyi 

RCWH Peace Team (in order of joining the team): 

• Swati Baindur (Peace Coordinator and Membership Chair)
•  Seema Lal (President-Elect and Club Secretary)
•  AbiAkinbiyi(Chair,Diversity,Equity and Inclusion)
•  David Mullins (Chair, Community Services and Public Relations) 

Contact: Swati Baindur, peace@rotaryclubofwyndhamharbour.org.au