In front of Tahoma High School is a large painted “spirit rock” that stood alone, but now there are thousands of smaller, painted rocks surrounding it.

These rocks aren’t a random occurrence. They were put there by students and community members to remind everyone they are loved and appreciated, according to Nicole Casey, local mother and Maple Valley community member.

Nicole said she got the idea to place the small painted rocks around the larger one from a story she saw about a woman who lost her cousin when they were both 15.

Nicole said this woman posted on social media about an elementary school class that painted rocks to go along with a story that one of their classmates had written.

When Nicole saw a picture of the rocks that were painted, she described it as a “beautiful stream.”

So, she posted on the Tahoma Parent Facebook group about making their own stream of rocks.

“I knew that was a great way to reach out to them and asked if there might be an interest in doing something similar with the recent tragedies in our community and trying to also come up with ways for the kids to just heal and maybe also know that you’re not alone and we’re all in this together,” she said. “We’re one big community and it really felt like we could do something really wonderful, not just for our school, but all the community could come together.”

Nicole explained this rock painting project meant so much to her because she too lost a child.

She said her oldest daughter died in a car accident on Maple Valley Highway about two and a half years ago — she was victim of a head-on collision.

“My husband happens to be the Varsity Lacrosse coach for the last eight years for the high school and because he and my daughter were so well known we had people bringing food, flowers — I mean people that I’ve never met before were reaching out,” Nicole said. “Knowing how much that impacted our family as we are trying to heal with our own tragedy, I just really felt very strongly that we have to do something to help everybody because not everyone has a support system. It doesn’t matter how you lose a child, the impact is still the same and the loss of a child is something horrific that you never recover from.”

She said when she first thought of this idea, she was hoping the rocks would be the support system for those who do not have one. Or that it would be a way for students and community members to express themselves.

Nicole explained that, “a rock comes in every shape and size — and then it’s being painted in tons of different colors with whatever is meaningful to each child or adult that’s painting.”

What happened next was more than Nicole could have ever expected.

Many people liked her post on that Facebook page and Terry Duty, the principal of Tahoma High School, “immediately” jumped on board with this idea, Nicole said.

And then with the help of art teachers at the school, the idea skyrocketed.

Terry said he saw Nicole’s Facebook post and thought her idea was great without a second thought.

“Everybody wants to do something. Everybody wants to contribute and that takes a lot of various sizes and shapes and ways of doing it. Some are more harmful than people might think, but this was really a positive way for people to do something and express their desire to help kids,” Terry explained. “I think it could become a legacy thing. So we’re really looking at ways for it to expand. It’s not a memorial, it’s not about death and dying, but it’s a way to express themselves and to help kids and let them know they are supported.”

The large rock that the little ones are surrounding has a history in itself, according to Terry.

“At the old Tahoma High School there was a big rock there and we call it the ‘spirit rock’ and kids would paint that for different events, it was just a little bit of everything,” Terry said. “And then at times, we had some deaths in the past and it would be in remembrance of (them) and then get painted over eventually with some other spirit type of thing, but it was really a positive thing and I thought when we built this school if they could find a really big rock on site, let’s do that again.”

Now, no matter how many times the big rock gets painted over, students will always be able to have a piece of them on the high school’s campus, Nicole said.

Allison Agnew, an art teacher at Tahoma, agreed with what Nicole was trying to convey and jumped right into helping her.

“I know a good idea when I see one and the community had a great idea,” Allison said.

According to Nicole, Allison has opened her classroom to anyone who wants to paint a rock.

The rocks themselves are coming from all over the place, according to Allison.

She said she thought people would just bring their own rocks, but some would forget or thought rocks would be provided. To solve that problem, people have been donating rocks to be painted.

“I’ve found people have been dropping bags of rocks off at my door of my classroom,” Allison said, laughing.

She said students who do bring their rock, sometimes bring more than one for someone who may have forgotten to bring one.

“That in it of itself shows that extension of kindness of others that seems really small, but when you magnify that, that’s pretty special,” Allison said.

Now sports teams, clubs and even elementary schools in the district have placed a painted rock next to the large spirit rock to show support for their fellow Bears.

“This is truly a community effort that involves the students, the staff, parents, athletic teams, clubs, classes and really, it’s that opportunity you hope for where everyone has a chance. Everyone can express their individual personality, while at the same time we remind each other to be kind and that we’re here together,” Allison said.

The community efforts aren’t stopping here though.

Terry said a local Eagle Scout has talked to the school about how he wants to continue what Nicole started by making a larger barrier to fill rocks with.

Allison hopes the rocks will eventually flow all the way down to the parking lot, Nicole said.

“Everybody wants to be apart of it. That’s what we want — bring the community together,” Nicole said.