Thank you, Asia "The HKIS Rock" (14 days until Green Bay)

 

One of the unique features about our HKIS campus is the rock on "the island" situated at the center of our entrance.  This rock is perpetually painted by students to commemorate various highlights of the year.  

With regularity the rock is painted to welcome students back to campus or wish them well as they graduate.  It is often adorned with holiday wishes - from Halloween to Christmas to Chinese New Year.  

Each year the seniors are recognized by the rock in the weeks prior to graduation.  (Like now.)  Left is a picture from last year when Adam was nearing graduation. 

And one of my favorites is how the school embraces "My Freedom Day" in April to bring awareness to Human Trafficking around the world. 

When I turned 50 the same year as the school, I felt a certain closeness to the rock's celebration of "50". 

When Covid suddenly shut down our campus for months, our rock was stuck at Chinese New Year.  Eventually, I decided it needed to be painted anew to welcome the students back.  Several staff members and I joined in painting our welcoming emojis on the rock.  Little did we know it would be from February until June of 2020 before the students would be back on campus to actually SEE the rock.

When one of our students was in a horrible car accident with his family, everyone used the rock to help process their best wishes, shock, and later grief at his passing.

When devastating events happened, such as the Charlie Hebdo massacre in Paris, the student body gathered at the peace pole and the rock to pray for peace together. 

One of my favorites was when the rock was painted with the very "meta" image of The Rock (Dwayne Johnson).  Someone actually invited him to come to our campus to see it.  But he never came.  (Aw.)  Can you spot it in the picture above? (Hint: It was also Chinese New Year.)

I was so impressed by the idea of the rock and all it stands for - artistry, community, celebration, and rites of passage - that I vowed to take pictures of every iteration of the rock during my tenure at HKIS.  In these pictures are almost all of them.  (I am sure I missed a few as I scanned through my thousands of photos.) 

What an amazing gift this rock has been.  

The 2014 cohort of high school teachers and administrators.  My first picture in front of "the rock."

All photos by © Brenda Brayko.  All rights reserved.