Students create new memorial after 'spirit rock' vandalized

A memorial at Woodstock High School vandalized over the weekend now has students turning a bad situation into something good.

"We took something that was meant to hurt us and switched it into a positive," Student Ashlyn Welsh said.

Previously, the spirit rock memorialized Madilyn Phillips, a junior who died in a car crash last year.

"What good was going to come out of this?" Alyssa Thomas said. "You could have spray painted anything else, but not this rock."

Sunday, the student said they discovered the rock had been spray painted with the letters "EHS" and the name "Drew."

"When I found out it hurt my heart so much that someone would use my brother's name to deface the rock," Megan Bonat said.

Megan Bonat's brother, Drew, died last year just one month before Phillips. Bonat's family said they were devastated to see his name associated with the vandalism.

"I was heartbroken for her family and that someone had the audacity to use Drew's name in the process," Drew's mom Amy Bonat said.

Since Sunday, students have been coming out to recreate the memorial, but this time they're adding one more name to it... Drew's.

"It made me so happy to hear that students still think of him and care enough to add him to the rock," Amy Bonat said. "It just means so much to me."

Phillip's mom told FOX 5 News she will never let hate win and she hopes that the rock continues to be a place for students to gather, pray and remember the ones they've lost.