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International students representing 22 countries at Troy University came together Thursday to celebrate International Peace Day, the first celebration of its kind at the university.

“Someone once said you can’t fight fire with fire– you have to fight fire with water,” said Troy Student Shelby Wood to a crowd of international students gathered at the International Arts Center Thursday night. “What that means is that you can’t fight hate with hate; you have to fight it with love.”

The students, representing 22 countries, were gathered to honor international peace day. Thursday marked the first time that the university had come together to celebrate the day.

“This is a wonderful event,” said Caroline Hughes, president of the International Student Cultural Organization (ISCO). “We have a vital role in bringing people together. There is so much hate in the world right now that we need to put aside and love each other.”

“I’m very inspired by this event,” Wood said. “It gives me a renewed inspiration in myself. I get downtrodden by the negativity in the news every day and then I come out here and see so much positivity. It’s important to my search for peace and my promotion of peace.”

ISCO adviser Joe McCall said his hope is for this new generation of people from around the world to bring more peace than his own did.

“My generation left a world troubled by war, and our country is certainly responsible for some of that,” McCall said. “We all carry some blame. I want your generation to have a better world than we have now.”

The students displayed their peace with one another by walking down University Avenue bearing the flags of their respective countries, all working together peacefully and celebrating each other.

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