Pine Bush Elementary School is now represented at the Children’s Peace Monument in Hiroshima, Japan, with 1,000 paper cranes and wishes for peace in our world.

 

 

The project started with Stacey Venzel, a fourth-grade teacher at PBE. She invited students throughout the school to participate by folding paper into cranes. Their goal: 1,000 origami cranes that would travel with Ms. Venzel to Japan on her trip in July. Cranes are the international symbol of peace.  Students in her class helped her string them together into garland to place at the monument.

 

Ms. Venzel’s class learned about the Children’s Peace Monument and Sadako Sasaki, a young girl who died of leukemia in 1955, 10 years after the dropping of the atomic bomb in Hiroshima. While in the hospital, she began making cranes. She made 1,000 of them, in the hope they would bring her good health.

After Sadako’s death, her classmates wanted to honor her and recognize all of the children who lost their lives due to atomic weapons. They raised the funding to build the Children’s Peace Monument, which was dedicated in 1958, in the center of Hiroshima Peace Park. The engraving at the monument: “This is our cry, This is our prayer, Peace in the world.”

 

On July 20, 2026, Ms. Venzel traveled to Hiroshima Peace Park and hung the 1,000 cranes made by our PBE students. It was a very emotional moment for her. Her note that accompanied the cranes said: “To Japan and the world. Pine Bush Elementary School and Ms. Venzel’s class. We learned about Sadako Sasaki in school. As a community that embraces diversity and a classroom that celebrates global culture, these 1,000 cranes are our message of hope for world peace.”

 

Have a look at a quick video of Ms. Venzel placing the cranes at the monument.

 

 

Another note said “To Japan and the world. Pine Bush Elementary School, New York, USA.”

“I am so grateful to the students for taking on this task I bestowed upon them,” said Ms. Venzel. “In the last two weeks of school, we made it happen!”
It was a perfect way to culminate the hands-on love of learning and appreciation of world culture students in fourth grade embrace each year, she said.

 

 

Ms. Venzel said the cranes stay on display for months, as new donations arrive each day. Then they recycle them into useful things, including stationery, cloth and earrings. That makes Ms. Venzel very happy since recycling is a focus in her classroom. Win – win!

What a beautiful and meaningful project for our  students.