Boaz Chapman (Junior)

High schools thrive on symbols of community and engagement from the students. Jane Balog, a Junior at Obama, is contributing to this by bringing what is being called “The Rock” to school. The Rock, is in fact a big rock that will be placed by the statue in front of the old entrance. Students will be able to paint or decorate The Rock with whatever they like–as long as they sign up and it gets approved. “[It] could be anything from ‘congrats class of 2022’ to ‘go football team’,” said Jane. “My hope for this rock is to become some more spirit for the school. Sometimes I feel we are lacking in that area a bit and that we don’t have many traditions.”

This whole process goes to show how easy it can be for someone to implement any idea they have. Jane says she got the idea from her cousin’s school, and semi-jokingly decided to bring it up at a student council meeting. “The rest of the student council thought it was a decent idea and Mr. Ehman and Ms. Clarke okayed it so then I just started looking for a rock.” Rocks like these have been around for a while, especially in rural southern schools. Some of them have been painted so many times that the layers of paint measure several inches. Maybe the same will be true for our rock in years time. While date estimates for the unveiling of the rock are ambiguous, Obama will most likely install it at the end of the school year or some time during the summer. The Eagle Times hopes that students make use of this new avenue for creative expression of school spirit.