Campus has become a little bit brighter with the start of The Kindness Rocks Project, a campaign started by junior Kristin Thorpe, who has made it her mission to spread kindness on campus by inviting students to paint inspirational messages on rocks to be placed around Shippensburg University and Rails-to-Trails.
What started as a project for her technical/professional writing I class this semester has taken the campus by storm with her project spreading kindness. Megan Murphy, a life coach from Massachusetts, started the original Kindness Rocks Project, according to Today.com. She began writing inspiration messages on rocks she collected and placing them around her local community.
For the Kindness Rocks Project, individuals pick a small sized rock, paint it and write inspirational messages ranging from “You matter,” to “Have a beautiful day.” As long as it is inspirational, it counts. Then the rocks are placed around the community where passers can find the rocks. Once you find the rock, you take a picture and post it to Instagram before moving it somewhere else to continue the kindness. If the message really inspires you, you are able to take the rock home.
Thorpe’s hashtag is #ShipURocks. She hopes this Project spreads out into neighboring communities as far as Carlisle and Harrisburg.
“I hope people become more aware of the positive effects that kindness has on others. I also hope people realize how simple it is to spread kindness,” said Thorpe, whose hometown began its own Kindness Rocks project last year.
Starting small with community rocks, no budget and Career Community Engagement Center volunteers, Thorpe started the project in McCune Hall’s lobby floor where residents could come down, paint a rock and spread some kindness. The second occasion took place in the Ceddia Union Building’s great hall where students could paint a rock and snap an Instagram post. Since then, Thorpe has been overwhelmed with the outpour of encouragement.
“I’m getting a lot of support and positive feedback from faculty and staff about this project,” Thorpe said. “The marketing team has really helped promote what I’ve been doing.”
She hopes to host another event for the spring 2018 semester to continue spreading kindness.
This project helped her learn valuable perspectives, “being invested in this project is reminding me how easy kindness is to spread,” Thorpe said.
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