Members of the sixth-grade civics club at South Elementary School in Holbrook are planning a World Peace Day celebration for Sept. 21 to coincide with the United Nations’ International Day of Peace, and they hope to win recognition of the day across Massachusetts.

Club adviser Mary Clougher, a civics teacher at the school, said the students were inspired to focus on peace after a visit to the school by the parents of Martin Richard, the 8-year-old boy who was killed in the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013.

A widely shared photo shows him holding a handmade poster that reads, “No more hurting people. Peace.’’

She said the club will ask state Senator John Keenan to help them try to get World Peace Day declared statewide.

The club petitioned the Board of Selectmen in January to declare Sept. 21 World Peace Day in Holbrook, and the board approved it on Feb. 10.

The club is also working with Peace One Day, an organization based in England dedicated to promoting a global Peace Day.

The after-school club’s 65 members — more than half the sixth-grade class — are writing books for younger students, and they will read them to those students in September.

The club also hopes all school sporting events that day will be dedicated to peace, Clougher said.

The students have suggested that rather than holding a moment of silence, the athletes hold a moment of celebration.

Jennette Barnes can be reached at jennettebarnes @yahoo.com.