Students came together to paint rocks with colorful paintings and messages to plant them in “Maddie’s Garden” to show our love and support during hard times.

Maddie Lang, a 6-year-old girl from Buckhannon, battling cancer in her stomach called Rhabdomyosarcoma.

The National Cancer Institute states that, Rhabdomyosarcoma is a cancer that forms in the soft tissues in a type of muscle called striated muscle. Rhabdomyosarcoma can occur anywhere in the body.

Even with this toll taken on her life, Emily Denison, Student Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) President said, “Maddie and her family would paint rocks to help distract her with the pain by painting pictures, and the words, Faith and Love kept her spirits high”.

In the front yard of the Lang house in their garden, they have created a rock garden called “Maddies Garden”, that friends and family of the Langs have added to bring joy to Maddie. Denison and her executive board members decided to take part in showing community love to maddie during these difficult times.

“This event landed in the lap of the student athlete advisory committee because our philanthropy made a wish. Make a wish is a nonprofit organization that helps grant wishes to children with critical illness,” Denison shares.

The rock painting event was held on September 3rd, 2026 in the Rockefeller Lobby at West Virginia Wesleyan College.

The Student Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) decided to take this information about a little girl from Buckhannon and try to make a difference in her life. When finding out about Maddie’s Garden, they knew that it needed to grow with love and light. They knew that this was the perfect event for our students athletes here at West Virginia Wesleyan school to get involved in.

All students were invited to come to the Rockefeller Lobby where you found two tables and lots of paint to be able to decorate rocks.

Coaches informed about this event shared stories about Maddie Lang and her journey to their teams and athletes. Everyone immediately jumped on board and with no questions or complaints showed up and got involved. “I went to go paint my rock mid day after my class and there were already so many rocks painted and many people were also there at the time to add more”, Kamryn Cox, a student athlete on the women’s soccer team, said.

Everyone was able to paint whatever they wanted on these rocks to show their love and try to put a smile on Maddie’s face.

Cox shares “When I was looking at everyone’s rocks there were so many beautiful messages painted along with just funny paintings that hopefully brought her joy to see”.

“We had more than 100  rocks painted that will be delivered to Maddie this year,” Denison said.

Six year old Maddie Lang’s life was changed forever by the news she had received earlier this year. As a school we now hope we can change the narrative of this little girl’s life and give her joy, support, and make “Maddies Garden” grow with love.

“We hope that this event can show Maddie Lang the support she has from the community as our College takes up a big amount of this town. As a school we wish to put a smile on her face and in between all the hard days she can look outside and give herself a reminder to stay positive” Denison said.