Rock Out, Seneca Valley
JACKSON TWP — Even though he's in his 30s, Kyle Leggett was surprised how excited he was to find his first painted rock.
“It just caught my eye for a moment,” he said. “It's really funny how a painted rock can bring someone so much joy.”
Leggett is the acting assistant principal at Seneca Valley Intermediate High School and adviser for the new Rock Out SV group just given formal approval by the school board.
The club was formed by junior Faith Baney and senior Jess Thompson to paint rocks with colorful designs and motivational phrases that will later be hidden around the area for others to find. Faith found her first rock in the hospital while visiting her grandfather.
“I liked the idea of it. It had a message on it with a butterfly and music notes on it,” Faith said. “It inspired me to start making more. It's really just to beautify the community.”
While painting a rock and hiding it in plain sight might seem odd, the trend has grown across the country as people look for ways to brighten people's days with random acts of kindness.
Facebook groups dedicated to the craft have sprouted up in many communities to organize and inform people about the craft.
Karen Kane Kuriger of Mount Chesnut started one in Butler County called “Butler County PA ROCKS! (Painted Rocks).” She has also seen youth groups, churches and other community groups get involved in rock painting.
Kuriger's group is a sister group to the popular Beaver County rock-painting group on Facebook that has more than 9,000 members. Members of the group are encouraged to paint rocks and label the back of the rocks with a special hashtag tied to the group.
The Butler County group labels their rocks with “#butlercountyparocks,” Kuriger said.
Once rocks are found, the finders can search for the hashtag on Facebook, find the group it originated from and post a picture of the rock and where they found it. Then the finders can hide the rock again somewhere else or keep it if it brings them joy.
“It's kind of a neat way to pass the time too and to see how far these rocks can travel,” Kuriger said.
Kuriger saw the success of the Beaver group and wanted to start one in Butler County to spread the joy. Angela Bradley, founder of the Beaver County group, helped Kuriger get it started and helps maintain the group.“It's not just for kids,” Kuriger said. “It's for ages 2 to 102. A lot of people get involved in it.”Her 7-year-old son painted his first rock and hid it in Mars. Within hours someone had found his rock and posted it in the group.“It was just amazing how fast it was found and posted,” Kuriger said.Bradley said it's a real family activity parents and grandparents can do with children. It also gets children outside to hide rocks and find them, she said.“The biggest thing I've seen this summer is the kids aren't in front of the TV, laptop or iPad,” Bradley said.The Rock Out SV group hopes to meet twice a month after school to paint rocks. Once it gets started, Faith said they can also start meeting at people's houses and people can paint on their own.“It's almost like we're creating smiles,” Leggett said.“It's like we're kids again,” Faith added.At Seneca Valley's Rowan Elementary School, students painted rocks as part of a beginning of the school year kickoff project. Nannette Farmar, Rowan principal, said she said all her teachers and staff read the book “Only One You” by Linda Kranz to their students.“The book is really about celebrating everyone's differences and uniqueness,” Farmar said. “But when we all come together, what a beautiful statement that makes.”Using an idea she got from a school in Indiana, all students and staff in the school then painted rocks with unique designs that were placed in a planter around one of the trees at the entrance to the school.
“It's really celebrating everybody and knowing that they can make a difference,” Farmar said. “And teaching kids at elementary that simple acts of kindness can make the world a better place. It doesn't have to be a grant gesture.”
