NAPF Peace Leadership Director Paul K. Chappell spent three days in July teaching teens in AHA! (Attitude. Harmony. Achievement.) in Santa Barbara about waging peace. Participants learned about the roots of violence and avenues toward healing through short lectures, videos, clips, interactive discussions, and activities, including skits demonstrating nonviolent ways to resolve conflict.
Paul K. Chappell said, “I was grateful for the opportunity to discuss the peace leadership skills I wish I had known when I was sixteen. Those skills–such as the ability to calm myself and others down, resolve conflict, increase my empathy, and heal the causes of aggression–would have benefitted me immensely.”
According to AHA!, youth were engaged, learned a lot, and really enjoyed the experience. Dr. Jennifer Freed, co-founder and director of AHA! wrote, “Thank you so much, Paul, for your teachings and for being a living example of peacebuilding despite life experiences that could have led you to a very different place.”