In the spirit of the school’s Be Nice philosophy and extending random acts of kindness past the commemorative month of February, a group of 5th and 6th grade students in an after-school program have come up with a great way to spread messages of joy to their peers in an anonymous and fun way. Freedom Intermediate School teacher Marie White and some of the students who attend Gentry Education Center, an after-school enrichment program, are connecting students to each other by using a simple and positive message conveyed through art and nature.
Called #FISrox, the idea is simple. Students express messages of peace, happiness, joy or positivity by drawing on small stones, which are then hidden around the campus exterior. “These stones with simple, friendly pictures drawn on them, are intended to brighten the finder’s day,” White said. “My hope is that this project will create positive feelings and build community within our school. Students are continuing to create the messages on the stones each afternoon as an enrichment project, after they have finished their academic commitments,” she added.
White said her inspiration for the idea came after learning of artist Bryan Payne’s Doodlestones project in Missouri – his attempt to ease tensions left in the wake of the Ferguson riots. When Freedom Intermediate students find an #FISrox stone, they bring it to teacher Pax Wiemers, who takes a picture of the finder with the rock and posts it on the school’s bulletin board. Special twitter clues are provided on the school’s twitter account @fssdFIS to help students narrow their hunt.
A special connection is then formed as the finder is asked to create a new #FISrox to replace the found stone, so as to brighten someone else’s day. A gift that keeps on giving! White said she will continue the #FISrox project through the end of the school year.
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