Some students may have noticed the bright blue rock in the quad, across from Café Rachel. This colorful rock is accompanied by a plaque that identifies it as the spirit rock, and it is the first step in Chatham Student Government’s (CSG) plans for a spirit garden. 

Debuting in summer 2020, the spirit rock is meant to bring color and interactivity to the Quad. The rock is meant to be painted over and over again by the student body. Students are now able to get paint for the rock at the Carriage House.

“Our four-year plan for CSG class of 2022 is to create a spirit garden outside of Coolidge Hall to add school spirit to the Quad, increase student engagement on the appeal of the campus and clean up some of the landscaping around the Quad,” said CSG class of 2022 president Becca Pennington in an interview during the 2021 fall semester. 

This sort of project is not unheard of. The students at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) have been doing the same thing to a fence for years. However, unlike the CMU fence, the spirit rock has not been highly used. 

Pennington said the rock needs relocating to spark student engagement. 

“The spirit rock has not been utilized much since its placement. Personally, I think it needs moved, so it is more in visual view,” Pennington noted. 

The spirit garden project is now underway with the supervision of CSG.

“Currently, our senior class project is to add a rock designed ‘C’ to the spirit garden, rearrange and replace the spirit rock to make it easier for students to utilize, for visual purposes, plant purple perennials for aesthetic appeal and functional for pollinators and clean up the landscaping outside of Coolidge Hall.”

This is the most recent idea from CSG to bring the Chatham community together while making the campus more beautiful.

“We currently have a rough plan of the spirit garden for our senior class gift, which will be completed in March 2022. We will begin fundraising, so be on the lookout for the start of our campaign and feel free to share thoughts and ideas for anything else to be added to the spirit garden,” Pennington said.

Ideas and thoughts can be shared with Pennington by contacting her at [email protected] or scanning the CSG QR code to give suggestions.