At North Lawndale College Prep, Monay Jordan is a senior. She’s an A/P chemistry student. And she’s a Peace Warrior.
In this violence prevention program, Jordan and her classmates work collaboratively to develop skills in nonviolent conflict resolution.
“Through Peace Warriors, we as a whole try to settle any problems—whether it’s outside the school or within the school—before it becomes a bigger problem.”
[pullquote]‘Peace warrior’ Monay Jackson’s purpose: Promote nonviolence in her school + her North Lawndale community[/pullquote]
Tiffany Childress-Price, a science teacher who founded the Peace Warrior program, explains, “Many of our students have grown up in communities where you feel that you have to physically retaliate or physically fight in order to survive, or not to be marked as a target.”
That culture of violence once pervaded North Lawndale College Prep, located in a West Side neighborhood where gang activity is prevalent. But following Childress-Price’s lead, the school has made a commitment to proactive Kingian nonviolence at every level—from faculty training and student curriculum, to implementing a restorative justice system and celebrations of peace.
Refocusing such deeply ingrained reflexes of self-protection takes hard work and resolve—qualities that Monay Jordan radiates, striving to be an example for her school and her city.
“I was put on this earth for a purpose,” Jordan believes. “As a result of what the Peace Warriors are doing, I would like to see less violence in my community itself, and people willing to change.”
