By Mary Windsor, Staff Writer

Published in print Apr. 15, 2015

“I had gone to a town meeting, and the speaker ended by saying, “This is great that we are having a town meeting but what happens afterwards? What happens when we leave, it seems like everything will go back to normal,” April Snell says. “So I thought, let’s start a peace circle and invite agnostic, Buddhists, atheists, Christians, Muslims, Jewish, people of all beliefs to join.”

Her Peace Circles started by word of mouth. She announced it to her biology class and when the Student Government at UNCG heard about it, they asked her to come to their meetings to talk about it and spread the word. She also held a table in the EUC and asked people to “Take a Stand for Peace.” About 15 people join her peace circles each week now.

Every Monday morning, a group of students at UNCG gather to hold hands and share their own home grown wisdom. They can bring spoken word, a prayer, what’s on their heard or their favorite verse and speak it into the circle as long as it is promoting peace and inclusivity.

April Snell moved to Greensboro from Washington, D.C. for a change in careers and returned to UNCG to finish up her degree in Communication Studies as a returning adult student.

She has been involved with yoga, mediation and spiritual science – the unified concepts in world religion. She has participated in workshops that teach how sound, color and light affect the human condition. As well as giving lectures on the concepts love, faith, peace, hope, history, wisdom and compassion and how all religions encompasses many of the same traits.

Snell studied abroad in Stellenbosch, South Africa and became aware of the difficulties the country was facing. It was where Apartheid was engineered, a system of racial segregation that took place from the mid to late nineties.

“There was such a need for reconciliation,” she says, “but I felt as though there was nothing I could do at the time.

The impetus for her starting “Peace Circles” at UNCG was the shooting and murdering of the three Muslim students at Chapel Hill in February.

“We have many different faces that come,” she says. “It’s a very diverse crowd. Different culture and religions and world views.”

Each week she sends out an email with a set of instruction for that week’s Peace Circle.

It might be to talk about the importance of peace within a family, self-love, tolerance, paying it forward or reading a favorite prayer or verse that involves peace.

A regular attendee often brings a Quran and sings a scripture about peace into circle before she translates it back. 

“It’s very much about interacting with one another, and connecting on another level,” she explains. “There are no judgments here, I’m trying to break down walls and barriers – both emotional and stereotypical to create a sense among the students that attend.”

She decided to start the Peace Circles on Monday’s so that people could start off their week with something positive. “It’s kind of selfish but I began the Peace Circles for myself firs.

It’s really helped me to see people as a human being opposed to their outward religion. I’ve gotten to know so many people and show them that we’re all human and have the same desires. We are so much similar to each than we

realize.”

Snell’s goals for these peace circles are for herself and others to experience the world as a more open and receptive person and experience the world as abundantly and fully as possible.

“If we can’t encompass basic desires such as compassion, companionship, love, and faith there is a separation that is unnatural. You’re not going through life the way you should,” Snell says.

Her circles have been held inside the EUC during the cold weeks but are now going to be held on the EUC lawn as the weather starts warming up.

“I encourage everyone to come. The smiles in people’s faces and how inviting they are to foreign concepts are amazing. We are all growing. All are welcome.”