The H-F Pebbles & Pins Project is spreading encouragement throughout the community, one painted rock at a time.

On May 8, seniors from Homewood-Flossmoor High School’s Design Thinking and Collaborative Arts class invited the community to Flossmoor Community Church to paint rocks and clothespins with uplifting messages. 

Their project aims to spread kindness throughout Homewood and Flossmoor.

“You are loved.” “Be yourself.” “You got this.”

At first, the idea seems easy enough: paint rocks, decorate clothespins, and leave positive messages for others to find.

But for the students leading the project, their goal went beyond just making art.

“We were trying to think of something that would, more than anything, have an impact. And a positive one at that,” senior Nina Anderson said.

Anderson said the class spent weeks bouncing ideas off each other before deciding on a project centered around positivity and community.

“We wanted to base our project on something that would benefit the community instead of just doing something that we think was fun,” Anderson said.

The project was organized through H-F’s MVP program and the Design Thinking and Collaborative Arts class taught by J.R. Willard-Rose.

“This is our final project,” Anderson said. “We ran a bunch of ideas together, and we ended up going with Annie and Maddie’s idea.”

Student Annie Ford said the class was challenged to create something artistic that would also bring the community together.

“Mr. Rose told us that for a final project, he wanted us to come up with an idea where we bring the community together, while also being artistic,” Ford said.

“Everyone loves to paint, and rock painting is such a big thing,” Ford said.

Senior Maddie Schneidewind helped introduce the clothespins portion of the project after seeing similar ideas at dance and cheer competitions.

“Typically at those big competitions, sometimes they like to take clothespins and decorate them with kind messages,” Schneidewind said. “Like, ‘You got this,’ or ‘You did great,’ and you stick them on each other’s backpacks or clothes.”

For Schneidewind, the project became another way to remind people they are supported.

“It’s just a big form of kindness,” she said. “I think we need a lot of kindness nowadays, especially with a lot of things that’s going on in the world, and especially within our community. We need to come together and spread kindness and spread joy and tell each other that we got each other’s backs.”

Students placed QR codes on the backs of the rocks so residents who find them around Homewood and Flossmoor have a role in passing the project along.

“We’re gonna hide all the rocks around Homewood-Flossmoor,” Anderson said. “If you find the rock, you pick it up, there’s gonna be a QR code on the back, and you get to post it on Instagram, Twitter or Facebook with the tag.”

Most of the messages focused on encouragement.

“Be kind.” “Be you.” “You are loved.”

Senior Jazmin Coleman said the messages were meant to brighten someone’s day, even briefly.

“You never know what’s going on in somebody’s life,” Coleman said. “It could just lift their day up.”

For Anderson, the message was very personal.

Anderson, who is nonbinary and uses she/they pronouns, spoke openly about learning to become more comfortable with herself during high school.

“My message is so big because I’m so centered around self-love and self-respect,” Anderson said. “Maybe just the most basic thing ever: ‘Be yourself.’”

“I struggled so long being queer and Black,” Anderson said. “But I’ve gotten so much better, especially senior year. I’ve opened myself up more, and I’ve let my personality kind of shine.”

She said the support she found at H-F helped her grow more confident.

“In my school, I ran for prom court, and I told them I didn’t want to be prom king or prom queen,” Anderson said. “And they said, ‘Okay, we can announce you as prom royalty instead.’ I thought that was really sweet.”

Anderson now runs the school’s LGBTQ support group and said she hopes the project encourages others to embrace themselves.

“Being yourself is the best feeling in the world,” Anderson said. “There’s literally nothing like it.”

Junior Leanne Swideruk said the event gave students a chance to bring positivity into the community during difficult times.

“I just enjoy coming out and doing art things,” Swideruk said. “I feel like that was just a nice thing to do for the community. Again, with everything going around, it’s like a little bit of positivity.”

Willard-Rose said projects like this are designed to push students to think creatively while focusing on belonging and community impact.

“Every year, the kids come up with these really elaborate projects and really cool, interesting things,” Willard-Rose said. “It’s important to give back, to think about how you can make a difference, and use the skills that you have to really create something.”

He explained that the class includes a unit called “Designing for Belonging,” which encourages students to think about how to help people feel included.

“If we’re gonna design something, whether it’s a community art project or a new system at school, how do we design in a way that makes sure everyone feels they belong?” Willard-Rose said.

Rocks with painted flowers, sunsets, and even the SpongeBob character and handwritten affirmations were on display.

With graduation coming up, many seniors said they hope the project will leave a lasting impact on the community.

Schneidewind, who plans to attend the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater to study marketing with an emphasis in social media marketing and minor in musical theater, said high school taught her the importance of trying new things.

“Go out, try new things, be yourself,” Schneidewind said. “Don’t be afraid to put yourself out there.”

Ford, who plans to study music education at Eastern Illinois University, hopes the rocks continue traveling long after the event ends.

“We have a beautiful community already,” Ford said. “But it’s like, what can we do to bring people together intentionally?”

Soon, somewhere in Homewood and Flossmoor, a stranger might find the answer painted on a rock.