STUDENTS TAKE THE CHALLENGE MIDDLE SCHOOL PUSHES FOR NATIONAL PEACE DAY.

Byline: Karen Maeshiro Staff Writer

LAKE LOS ANGELES - Continuing their campaign against intolerance and hate, Challenger Middle School's 650 students will form a giant human peace sign as part of their Increase the Peace Day activities on April 20.

School officials want to shift the focus on April 20, the date of the Columbine High School shooting in Colorado, away from hate and violence toward peace and community celebration.

``We wanted to give our students a forum where they could discuss those issues openly,'' eighth-grade teacher Bruce Galler said. ``We also want to encourage other schools to do similar things across the country, so we are not collectively holding our breath waiting for the next act of school violence.''

The formation of the peace sign on the school's athletic field will follow an assembly where a former neo-Nazi leader who now works with the Simon Wiesenthal Center's Museum of Tolerance will talk to students about resisting hate-group recruitment tactics, and sheriff's deputies will discuss school safety.

The event is being co-sponsored by the Simon Wiesenthal Center. Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean of the center and museum, noted that April 20 this year is the first day of Passover and also the date of Adolf Hitler's birthday, which was linked to the 1999 Columbine shooting.

``Dates and anniversaries do have an impact,'' Cooper said. ``It's an innovative effort by concerned educators to turn it around, rather than making believe these problems don't happen. This can only be a win-win situation.''

The event was conceived by Galler, who organized with students a petition drive last year to declare April 20 as Increase the Peace Day following the shooting at the high school in Littleton, Colorado.

The petitions were delivered to the office of U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer by students on a field trip to Washington, D.C., and get-well letters and sympathy cards written by Challenger students were sent to the families whose children were injured or killed in the Columbine shooting.

``When Columbine happened, there was a great outpouring from the kids to discuss issues in class and try to make sense of it,'' Galler said.

This year, students will wear commemorative Increase the Peace T-shirts, funded by $5,000 in donations from businesses and the community, Galler said. Community leaders have been invited to attend the event and join in the formation of the human peace sign, which will be photographed aerially from four Huey helicopters from Edwards Air Force Base.

Students also will sign a petition that pledges to honor the memory of victims of school violence by committing themselves to finding peaceful solutions to conflict, and asks state and national legislators to proclaim April 20 as Increase the Peace Day.

The petitions and pledge will be presented to the families of victims in the Columbine shooting and high school officials there, and copies of those documents will be given to Sens. Boxer and Dianne Feinstein during the annual Challenger student trip to the nation's capital in May.

``What I really like about it is we are going to draw attention to young people for positive things,'' Wassner said. ``All too often, young people get negative attention. It's about time we started focusing on the fact that most young people are great kids, nice to each other and doing the right thing.''

The event also includes an essay and poster contest, the theme of which is ``Ways that I can personally Increase the Peace in the United States.''

Students are invited to write an essay of up to 500 words or design a poster that expresses how they can personally increase peace. The first-place winner in both the essay and poster contests will be flown to Colorado to help present the petition and pledge.

For more information on how to help or donate to the event, call Galler or Principal Kevin Wassner at the school at [phone].