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Photos by Erica Techo.
Crestline fifth-grader Mary Jane Bussian and sixth-grade teacher Elizabeth Studinka started Mountain Brook Rocks, a painted rock campaign with a positive message.
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Photos by Erica Techo.
Crestline fifth-grader Mary Jane Bussian and sixth-grade teacher Elizabeth Studinka started Mountain Brook Rocks, a painted rock campaign with a positive message.
As Mountain Brook residents walk around the city this summer, they’re likely to spot a few hidden splashes of color.
Upon closer look, they will see the spots are hand-painted rocks — part of a project started by Crestline fifth grader Mary Jane Bussian and sixth grade science teacher Elizabeth Studinka.
As part of Mountain Brook Rocks, a project that aims to spread positivity through pictures or words on rocks, Bussian and Studinka are hiding their hopeful messages around town.
“I like to think, think about if you were to come across something, what you would want to find,” Studinka said. “What’s some phrase or image that would conjure joy or happiness for you? Put that on the rocks so you’re sharing that with someone else.”
Studinka got the idea for Mountain Brook Rocks from Homewood Rocks, a similar project started by some of her friends in Homewood. She has worked with Bussian on enrichment projects for several years, but said this project is a chance to get creative.
“I like being creative and painting and drawing and stuff, so that’s fun for me and makes me happy,” Bussian said. “But also, when you’re writing lots of things that are happy messages, that makes me happy to read them, and we hope that’s going to make other people happy, too.”
The first round of rocks went out in April, and several of the rocks have been replaced or re-hidden.
“I know most all of them have been found because they’re not there anymore,” Studinka said. “They’re not where we put them.”
The back of each rock says, “Replace or re-hide, you decide. Facebook MB Rocks.” It’s a message to encourage everyone to check out the Facebook page for rules on placing the rocks and tips on painting the rocks. Group members also can post photos of their new rocks or rocks they found, with clues about where they were re-hidden.
“That’s really where it gets fun — when someone either makes new ones of their own or moves them somewhere else,” Studinka said. “Otherwise, we’ve just tossed a bunch of painted rocks out there.”
With school out, Studinka said she hopes more families are able to get involved, whether by painting their own rocks or looking out and about for existing rocks.
“I’m hoping, too, with summer, when families are home together and they’re out walking around and going to the parks —and when they have more time in the day — that they’ll get some rocks and put more out there,” Studinka said.
They want to keep rocks hidden in safe places — meaning not where people would trip or could get hurt — and if it’s on private property, such as a store window, that they ask before putting a rock there.
“And you don’t have to find one to paint one,” Bussian said.
Most of the rocks are around Crestline Village right now, Studinka said, but she and Bussian encourage people throughout Mountain Brook to get involved. Once people participate, Studinka said she thinks the positivity will be contagious.
“I think once you make one and you realize you might be making a teeny, tiny impact on someone that day, that you find you want to make another one and want to make another one,” Studinka said.
For more information, go to facebook.com and search Mountain Brook Rocks.
