Building Peace, One Teen at a Time

In our divided and bellicose world, peace can seem like an amorphous and unattainable concept. AHA! Peace Builders serves as a reminder that peace begins within each of us and only then can it emerge between individuals and eventually grow to be fostered among more and more people. 

Rooted in AHA!’s five pillars of Mindfulness, Resilience, Awareness, Empathy, and Connection, AHA! Peace Builders offers an inspired and tangible strategy to support participants in building positive relationships and promoting environments of belonging at school. Teens learn the skills needed to become leaders on their school campus, participating in events where their empowered leadership offers support to better and uplift their community. 

“The whole point of Peace Builders is to impact the climate of the school,” says Brandon Battle, AHA! Director of Programs. “It’s about learning how to dive inward and become really self-aware and socially aware… to become your most genuine self. Then you serve as a role model and leader who brings that out in other people.” 

AHA! Peace Builders participants: 

•Practice being an active participant in creating a positive, welcoming campus climate

•Meaningfully, authentically connect with each other while building self-awareness and social-emotional, leadership, and community-building skills 

•Learn and practice Connection Circle leadership to help others feel safe, seen, and appreciated

•Help build the world they want to live in through the language they use and the choices they make – including peacefully yet powerfully intervening or speaking out when necessary

AHA! Peace Builders is just part of AHA!’s array of in-school and off-campus programs. The organization has provided social-emotional learning (SEL) to more than 55,000 middle and high school students since its founding in 1999. 

It’s a big number and the organization’s effectiveness is even more impressive. At one struggling high school that received AHA!’s in-school programming, for example, suspensions dropped 70 percent and standardized test scores rose by 11 points. 

In all its programs, AHA! works to help teenagers remember what it’s like to connect in person, human to human, deeply and vulnerably – the most important antidote to the distress of separateness and fear. A goal of all AHA! programs, according to Executive Director Roxana Petty, is “to dismantle hate and counteract disconnection and despair… the root causes of heartbreaking school shootings.” 

With your help, AHA!’s legacy can continue for generations to come.