Students at the Academy of St. Benedict the African, 6020 S. Laflin St., sang and prayed for peace as they led donors, parents and other community members around their block Oct. 19. The eighth annual Prayer Walk for Peace once again included recent ASBA alumni who now attend Leo High School reading Scripture passages about peace on each of the block’s corners, as well as older students walking with younger children, students sharing their thoughts on what peace means to them and a photo of the student body standing in the shape of a cross on the school’s lawn. Principal Jennifer Farrand said the school held the peace walk for the first time in 2015, after a particularly violent summer in Chicago and in the Englewood neighborhood. It has become a tradition, with a walk held every year since except for 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic. “Violence persists in our city and in our world,” Farrand said. “Our children should be able to play outside without worrying about violence. At the Academy of St. Benedict the African, we know we are better together, so we walk and we pray together. We show the way of kindness, compassion and peace.” Deacon Leroy Gill, who helped organize the first prayer walk, once again led the opening prayer. He prayed for God’s guidance for the students and other participants, and also that the peace walk would lead those who participated and those who witnessed it to more peaceful ways. “We pray that this peace walk touches someone’s heart and changes their ways to your ways,” he said during the prayer. Students from different grades started the walk at each corner of the block, so they were all circling it at the same time. Each group had parents, donors and guests from the Big Shoulders Fund following along, while officers from the Chicago Police Department’s 7th District watched over the participants. Derrick Dukes Jr. is a graduate of ASBA who has four children in the school now. He followed the group that included eighth graders and preschoolers walking together. “I come out because it’s something the community needs to see,” said Dukes, who has lived in the neighborhood his whole life. “This school’s been here for 40-some years, and it’s part of the community. We need to be here, to have a presence.” Eighth grader Izaius Dukes, one of the student speakers, said to him, “To be at peace means not worrying about anything. God helps us to be at peace.” Classmate La’Kwon Garland said, “What peace means to me is having a time to be protected. When you’re feeling peaceful, you’re feeling protected and calm.”
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