Friendship and Peace

Between the Clark Library and the Buckley Center, there’s a stand of towering sequoias with a chapel-like space beneath them. During Reunion this year, more than sixty people gathered here to celebrate a new feature on campus: a peace pole. An internationally recognized symbol of harmony, a peace pole is a white obelisk printed with the words “May Peace Prevail on Earth” in eight different languages. It was given to UP on behalf of Herm ’64 and Joena Buchholz ’67. Several years ago, Joena went through an incredibly difficult time and she and her family had to rely on the help of their friends to get through it. During the ceremony, Joena expressed her ongoing admiration of her UP family. “The power of prayer and the power of good solid friendship that has come from the University is amazing,” she said. “You never know how much you’re going to need your friends. What was a hard journey, didn’t seem quite so hard. It was grace. And this peace pole is a wonderful example of it.”