Submitted by: Kerri Henry
At the beginning of the 2015-2016 school year, Braeden Hilty came up with an idea at the bus stop. His mom was asking him if everyone had a friend at school and wished there was a way to make sure everyone did. Braeden replied, “What about a Buddy Bench?” He shared his idea with close friends, Lena Englerth and Abigail Sprankle. The girls saw the value of having a friend and the three agreed that Indian Rock needed a Buddy Bench. Their first step was to raise money. So, at the Fall Festival, the students set up a booth and charged one dollar to play the game they designed and set up. Their poster about the Buddy Bench idea attracted kids to play the game and also earned generous donations from awesome grandparents! Braeden, Lena, and Abigail raised a lot of money at the Fall Festival but it wasn’t quite enough so they turned to their teachers at the Rock for help. The teachers participated in a special Casual Day to help raise the rest of the money for the Buddy Bench. The teachers were very happy to donate money and wear jeans to work one day last spring! Once Braeden, Lena, and Abigail had enough money to purchase a Buddy Bench, there was still work to do. First, the students had to pick a color for the bench. Then, the three friends went to Print-O-Stat to get plaques engraved. Their dream and hard work became a reality when they got to see the Buddy Bench delivered to Indian Rock on the last day of school in May. The last step was to plan a school-wide WE ROCK assembly to share the Buddy Bench with the faculty, staff, and students at Indian Rock on August 26, 2016. Braeden, Lena, and Abigail want everyone to remember the quote that is engraved on a plaque on the Buddy Bench. Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, “The only way to have a friend is to be one.”
