During Guilford College’s Fall Break, Peace and Conflict Studies students Cynthia Zielny '20, Sierra Mendez-Neff '19, and Emily Martin led by Zulfiya Tursunova, attended "Commemorating Violent Conflicts and Building Sustainable Peace" conference at Kent State University for the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the May 4th, 1970 shooting of Kent State students protesting the U.S. wars in Vietnam and Cambodia.
The Conference held several discussion points including but not limited to memorialization, protesting, peace-building practices, and peace and war theories.
In addition to attending the enlightening presentations, Cynthia Zielny, Guilford attendee, also recited a poem and presented her discussion, “Poetry and Peacebuilding: Providing a Voice and a Memorial for Collective Grief,”. After and in-between sessions, the group was able to visit Kent State’s May 4th Memorial as well as the Fashion School’s show on “Culture/CounterCulture” of the 1960’s and 70’s as well as their exhibit on “Wearing Justice”. The Wearing Justice display was part of the 50th year commemoration of May 4, and as such featured key research and projects focusing on war and peace, conflict resolution, and social justice.