Kindness Rocks With Rosemount Youth Commission

Press release from the City of Rosemount:

September 20, 2020

Hello! My name is Abby Kenninger and I’m a member of the Rosemount Youth Commission. The Rosemount Youth Commission is a group of teenagers who live in Rosemount and want to become more involved in the city. We work together with the other commissions that make the City of Rosemount so amazing. I personally joined the Youth Commission because I think it’s really important for the youth to have a voice in what’s going on in the city. Roughly 31% of Rosemount is youth, so we should be represented. Another reason I joined is because my brother was on it and he seemed to have fun going to the events and meeting new people through the commission.

Some things that the Youth Commission has accomplished or assisted with is the renovation of the skate park, playground concepts, participating in Night to Unite and Leprechaun Days, painting a city snowplow blade, Splash Pad celebrations, holiday tree lightings, Living Legacy tree plantings, and the Kindness Rock Garden in Central Park. The commission also meets with community and city representatives, visits community and city facilities, has toured the State Capitol, and attends ribbon cuttings

Another thing that the commission does in the fall, is go around Rosemount with city council members, police officers and firefighters to connect with the Rosemount community, otherwise known as Night to Unite. This is a great way of meeting new people and connecting with others in the community. Also, the Youth Commission members organized an event where kids from Rosemount came together and helped paint designs onto a city snow plow blade last winter. It helps make winter more colorful since it can sometimes be gloomy and grey. Not only does these events reflect positively on our commission, but it also brings joy to people of all ages in our community.

The Youth Commission is currently working on expanding our Kindness Rock Gardens. Over the mandatory quarantine this past spring/summer, many people spent time painting rocks and putting them out in their yards, sidewalks and trails near their homes. We, as a Youth Commission, thought it’d be a good idea to create designated spots at parks around the city for people to bring their rocks and place them in these gardens! This would create a way of showcasing rocks people have made, as well as keeping them out of the way of lawn mowers and weed trimmers. We also welcome the idea of painting new rocks to put at these locations.

The Kindness Rock Gardens have been expanded to Shannon Park, Jaycee Park, Brockway Park, Central Park, Meadows Park, and Ailesbury Park. We chose the cinder blocks around the park signs as the location for these rock gardens. When you go to place your rocks there, please make sure you place your rocks on the cinder blocks only. Please keep away from putting them in the flower beds and soil. As for our original rock garden in Central Park, many people have noticed that these rocks have been fading to the point where you can barely tell where the rock garden is. We have added a few freshly painted rocks there and invite others to place new rocks here as well. In Central Park, as you walk into the park from 145th Street under the wooden pergola, the rocks are on the left-hand side. This project is something we want every kid, teen, adult and elder to participate in. Once you place your rocks at one of those locations, snap a picture and tag the city of Rosemount on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter. We’d love to see everyone’s rocks and who’s participating. For more information, visit our Youth Commission webpage. We hope you can make it out to put your rocks on display!

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This press release was produced by the City of Rosemount. The views expressed here are the author’s own.