Melton ES Buddy Bench Project

The 2nd Grade AAP students at Rollan Melton Elementary School see a need for three Buddy Benches for our playgrounds. They feel these benches will help students make new friends, help students feel like they belong and make our school a more inclusive and kind place to be.

This project was student driven. They had a classmate who told a story of being lonely at recess because her best friend was on vacation. When another child asked her why she didn't play with someone else, she said she couldn't find anyone to play with. Another student said what Melton ES needed was a Buddy Bench. Things really took off from there! The children put themselves into groups to research the history of Buddy Benches, the cost and design, the rules and fundraising ideas. They created speeches and posters and presented their idea to our principal and went into every classroom in the school to share their idea!!

The Buddy Benches the children have picked out are made of steel and weigh 230 pounds. This makes them very sturdy and stable. Each bench is wrapped in Thermoplastic so the steel will not rust. They wanted to get the benches in blue (because that is one of our school colors) with paw prints (because our mascot is the mountain lion and the paws represent our school wide saying of "getting out our paws and claws to be the best people we can be" at school and in life when met with challenges).

We want everyone to know how very much we appreciate all their help and support with this project! Our goal is to order the benches by the end of May so they can be put on our playgrounds before the end of this school year.

Thank you so much for helping our school be a great community for learners and friends!!!