By Erica Solvig
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Mason High School senior Stephanie Elfers (front) hangs some ceramic ornaments on the "peace" tree in front of the school Wednesday as Jessy Deardurff looks on. (Michael Snyder photo) | ZOOM |

MASON - High school art and multicultural literature students are trying to do their part to spread world peace this holiday season.

The students created more than 100 ceramic ornaments - shaped like hands with a heart cut out of the center - and wrote "peace" on them in more than a dozen languages. They were hung on a live, 10-foot spruce, decorated with white lights and placed in front of Mason High School, 6100 Mason-Montgomery Road.

"They're all essentially the same but they're different, too," said juniorCarlee Weimer, 17. "It's nice to have all different languages because it brings together different cultures, countries and belief systems."

The peace tree was thought up by the school's sculpture and multicultural literature classes. The National Art Honor Society and the international and art clubs also participated.

The idea was sparked when a few teachers discussed starting a holiday tradition for the new school, which opened in September. The tree's theme stemmed from a class discussion about expressing the right holiday message, art teacher Judi Cettel said.

"We didn't want to make it just a Christmas tree," she said. "We wanted to make it something that reflects the different cultures of our school."

Students traced their hands and used cookie cutters to make the ornaments out of white clay. Each hand is dated "2002" and expresses peace in a different language, including "shalom," "heiwa" or "pokoj." "It reflects on the community," junior Hana Scibetta said while placing a hand on the tree. "There's people who go to our school who are from Japan and Vietnam, and their languages are up here."

The tree and decorations were purchased with a $500 General Electric teaching award that arts teacher Annie Helwig donated.

The spruce will be planted in front of the school this spring, and the staff hopes that making ornaments and decorating the tree will become an annual tradition. In future years, they plan to have the display out from Thanksgiving to Martin Luther King Day.

"It's a season of peace," Ms. Helwig said. "Twenty years from now, when they unpack (the ornaments), they'll remember the hands were the first year."

E-mail esolvig@enquirer.com