AUBURN — During third- and fourth-grade recess Thursday at Park Avenue Elementary School, Kaylee Pendexter sat alone on the Buddy Bench.

Soon Evalyse Lumpkin came up to her, inviting her to play. The two girls walked off, arm in arm.

For two weeks, the school has had the Buddy Bench sign on the playground seat during recesses.

Principal Vickie Gaylord said third-grader Gavin Steidel, 8, came to her recently proposing the idea. She loved it and approved it.

On Thursday, Steidel said he proposed the bench after reading about it in Highlights magazine.

“I thought it would be good for me and my sister,” Steidel said. “It’s not only helping me and my sister (get) people to play with, it’s getting other people to have new friends.”

Steidel went to the principal’s office last month with his written proposal.

During the first few days of the Buddy Bench, “it went bad,” Steidel said. Students made fun of it. “They were sitting on it when they really didn’t need a buddy. The principal almost had to shut it down.”

Park Avenue students on the Civil Rights Team got involved.

“The Civil Rights Team is about trying to treat each other with kindness, no matter their differences,” school counselor Bethany Perez said. When they heard about the Buddy Bench, “we jumped all over it. We said we would help.”

On Thursday at the beginning of recess, students played basketball, played in the snow and on the swings.

Civil Rights Team member Sarah Morgan, 11, placed the sign on the bench and she and others kept an eye on it.

If a child sits on the bench and no one comes forward in the first few minutes, “they’ll ask them to play,” Perez said.

At first, students needed to get used to the idea, she said.

“Now they’ve gotten used to it,” she said.

Kaia Hayashida, 11, said the Buddy Bench is a “really good idea.”

“It’s good when you want to make new friends,” Hayashida said. “It doesn’t leave anyone out.”

Fourth-grader Kasey Smith, 9, said she’s used the Buddy Bench a couple of times.

“It’s a great opportunity for kids to meet new friends, and really a good chance to play in other games,” Smith said.

Once when she sat down, three Civil Rights Team students “asked me if I wanted to play. Another time, boys asked me if I wanted to play tag.”

How did it make her feel?

“Great!” she said, smiling.

Gaylord said the Buddy Bench is an example of how she tries to encourage student suggestions.

“I want students to have a voice at the school,” she said. “This is their school.”

Some recent student suggestions included a request for an indoor pool.

“We can’t put a pool in the gym,” Gaylord said.

But other student suggestions have been approved or are under consideration, such as a physical education enrichment program for advanced athletic programs, which is now taking place on Friday mornings.

Another request is art in the stairwells, as the student said the walls are too barren. That’s under consideration.

Framed art probably won’t be hung on staircases because students could hit them as they use the stairs.

“We have to be careful,” Gaylord said. “However, a wall mural we might be able to do.”

bwashuk@sunjournal.com

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