Construction Students Build Benches for Elementary School

No friends? No problem. Buddy benches have arrived at Mount Stuart Elementary’s playground.

The concept of a buddy bench is simple: if students don’t have a friend to play with during recess, they sit on the bench and wait for someone to make friends with them.

The benches are meant to eliminate loneliness and foster friendship on the playground, and they were community member Linnet Botkin’s brainchild.

“I hear about bullying and it breaks my heart,” Botkin said. “I like the thought that there’s somewhere a child might go and just sit and other people would be aware and come over and say ‘want to come over and play?’”

Botkin connected with the construction management department at Central Washington University. Dr. Warren Plugge, a construction management professor, gathered about eight students to build three wooden benches in the Hogue building on campus.

Read the rest of this story by By JULIA MARTINEZ in the Daily Record.

CWU construction management students who built the benches are: Matt Offe, Casey Hattrup, Daniel Inman, Jessica Harris, Charles ‘Reno’ Wiebe, Dan Adams, Russell Davis, Caleb Phillips, and Kelly O’Donnell.

June 6, 2016