September 21 marks the International Day of Peace, an event that’s celebrated around the world and also in the hallways of North Atlanta High School.

Originally developed in 1982, the holiday promotes the absence of violence and war in countries around the world. Students in the North Atlanta Art program did their part to share the importance of the holiday by creating pinwheels and using them to decorate the campus’ front lawn along North Side Parkway.

The Pinwheels for Peace movement began in Coconut Creek, Fla., in 2005. Last year nearly 500,000 pinwheels were created and spun on the International Day of Peace. The idea behind the project is that students write wishes for the world on the pinwheel, and the wishes continually spin to spread their positive thoughts for peace.

At North Atlanta, students decorated their wheels with watercolor, colored pencil, and varied materials to create a vibrant sea of color for drivers passing the school on the busy Buckhead throughway.

The colorful project on the North Atlanta campus might be temporary in nature, but its impact on the students who made it and the passers-by who witness is sure to be long lasting.