A month and a half ago, Madame Ellis, a French teacher at La Cañada High School, emailed Spartan Kindness about a project idea that she wanted to propose. She explained her idea for something she called le Jardin de Gentillesse or the Garden of Kindness. She was inspired by a similar rock garden that she had seen in a community garden that she had recently visited with her two young daughters. She explained to Spartan Kindness that the garden was open to everyone, people could bring their own rocks to the garden as long as they encouraged positivity.
She loved the idea so much that she began thinking of ways to implement a similar project on our own campus. Mme. Ellis then introduced the idea to her French classes and, with the help of other teachers, clubs, and even elementary schools, the garden expanded beyond what she had originally envisioned.
Spartan Kindness eagerly accepted her proposal as it directly aligned with the club’s mission of spreading positivity through bringing the community together, especially through student participation.
The Garden of Kindness has since been created by the LCHS pool. All the rocks are decorated with an uplifting word or phrase, or even just a pretty picture. Spartan Kindness accepts rocks from everyone and encourages people to incorporate their cultures/languages into their rock paintings. One student who is participating in the learning pod program on campus said that, “I like to stop by the garden at the end of the school day because it is calming.”
If you would like to decorate a rock yourself, please leave it in the blue recycling bin on the ramp by room 620.
