Our Own Dr. Laura Finley, Peace Scholar

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A very big congrats to Humanity Project Vice President, Dr. Laura Finley, on her most recent prestigious award: The Peace Scholar Award from the Peace and Justice Studies Association. The Peace and Justice Studies Association (PJSA) serves as a professional association for scholars in the field of peace and conflict studies. PJSA is dedicated to bringing together academics, educators and activists to explore alternatives to violence as well as to share visions and strategies for peacebuilding, social justice and social change. They host an annual meeting and conference, support research and public scholarship and serve as a network hub for a diverse and growing academic and professional field. PJSA represents individuals who hold a variety of degree types such as Conflict Analysis and Resolution, Peace Studies, Social Justice Studies, Restorative Justice, Alternative Dispute Resolution and more.

Dr. Finley is an important part of the Humanity Project's growth and success -- and has been for many years now. We are grateful for that and for her friendship. Congratulations, Laura! As always, we are proud of you!

Our Kids Ask For Peace

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We hope you’ll watch this new Humanity Project video. It shows kids from our Humanity Club program, directly asking Vladimir Putin to stop the war in Ukraine. To us, it’s a powerful message of hope for a better future — children calling for peace. Please share it on social media, in emails and texts. Anywhere you can. The world needs more messages like this one, surely.

You Are Stardust

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Hubble telescope image courtesy of NASA

How do you teach a young child concepts such as the importance of respect for every individual, the value of diversity and the need for self-worth? Ideas that even many adults couldn’t explain clearly …

At the Humanity Project, we teach through play: videos, music, games, roleplaying and more. Art inspires the emotion that helps concepts to stick in the mind. One of our arts-based ideas for teaching also is science-based. We show kids that among the many reasons each person deserves respect is this amazing fact: Most of the materials inside every human being are formed from stardust. Literally. Science knows that elements such as carbon, oxygen, iron and nearly everything else that makes up you and all of us can only be manufactured by the extreme temperatures created within stars.

That’s an extraordinary notion to learn — for kids and adults both. And so we suggest you check out our latest video, just posted on the Humanity Project YouTube channel. It is called simply, “You Are Stardust.” Watch the video!

It’s short, it’s engaging, it’s factual … and offers us one more way to connect with kids. It was made with help from our Humanity Club girls at Morrow Elementary, many of them appearing in the video. And now they will help us bring the video and a short talk about this topic to every student in their school, classroom by classroom. The goal is to encourage the entire student body to treat everyone in school with respect, part of our year-long Humanity Club project at Morrow. Kids teaching kids, kids helping kids … That’s what we do at the Humanity Project.