Reeces Creek Elementary School fifth grade student council officers introduced the school’s new Buddy Bench to their peers in a pair of ceremonies Friday, explaining the bench is meant to build greater inclusion in the school.
Student council president Summer Fifita explained in the ceremonies that sitting on the bench signals that you need a buddy.
“You are signaling that you need a friend without having to ask,” she said.
“If you see someone on the buddy bench, introduce yourself and be a buddy. This buddy bench promotes happiness, friendship and our ‘No Place for Hate.’”
Josiah Lopez, student council secretary said the bench is a tool to help provide friends to students and staff members in need of a listening ear. “It will make our school more welcoming to students and staff,” he said.
Reeces Creek Elementary School already has the “No Place for Hate” designation, the Anti-Defamation League movement that promotes inclusivity and equality.
Along with Fifita and Lopez, council treasurer Londyn Gordon, historian Edith Cruz and vice president Yasmin Chaban presented the bench.
Mark Hyde and other members of the Killeen Exchange Club, which donated the bench, took part in the ceremony.
School counselor Shana Munoz, the school’s student council sponsor, said the school makes a priority of fostering friendship and including all in the campus culture.
“If you’re feeling lonely or sad or maybe you are shy you can sit on the bench,” she said to students, then others will know you are in need of a friend and can ask.
Some, she said, might also need time alone and can use the bench for solitude.
The buddy bench will be installed soon on the school playground.
Photos: https://www.flickr.com/photos/killeenisd/albums/72177720329302914