Building Buddy Benches
<p>Kootenai Technical Education student Trevor Karras welds a Borah Elementary School Buddy Bench during class on Tuesday.</p>
<p>A Buddy Bench, made by Kootenai Technical Education Campus students, is a designated seat where local elementary students can go when they are being bullied or having a bad day at school.</p>
<p>An electronic Torchmate cuts details into a bench for Borah Elementary School on Tuesday at Kootenai Technical Education Campus. Elementary students learn that if they see someone on the Buddy Benches, that person is in need of some kindness and friendship.</p>
RATHDRUM — Four unfinished steel benches sit at the back of the welding classroom at the Kootenai Technical Education Campus. The whir of saws and soldering machines fills the air as students work diligently to finish their project, making sure every detail is perfect.
This fall, the Borah Elementary School Parent Teacher Organization reached out to KTEC with the idea of making Buddy Benches.
Buddy Benches are for students who feel lonely or need a friend. When a student sees someone sitting on the bench, they know to go over and include that person, creating a more friendly and welcoming atmosphere.
“Borah is such a unique school. A lot of kids have a tough time, especially when kids are moving from school to school; it can be hard to make friends,” said Borah Elementary School PTO President Michelle Bredeson. “We thought [Buddy Benches] would be a great addition to our school.”
With the help of the local Kiwanis Club, Borah Elementary will get four Buddy Benches. When Betty Kiefer Elementary School heard about the project, it ordered two benches from KTEC as well.
Colby Mattila, director of KTEC, said he was excited about the opportunity for his students.
“These benches will be servicing both the Coeur d’Alene and Lakeland districts, who both bring students to us,” he said, “so it’s nice to give back.”
The welding teacher at KTEC, Katie McIntire, organized the project and helped her students design, and now build, the benches.
“I think it’s a great idea and it’s good for our kids to get projects like this to teach them real-world scenarios,” she said.
Not only are the welding students learning about building benches, they are learning to work together and take on more responsibilities. At the beginning of the project, McIntire was very hands on and wanted to make sure there weren’t any mistakes, but as her students got more and more into the process, she took a step back and let them figure everything out for themselves.
McIntire sees this project as a good opportunity for the second-year students to mentor the first-year students.
Josh Kirby, a second-year student, is the student leader of the project. He said the hardest thing has been getting the measurements right.
“Every day we work on separate projects, but then we have to put it all together, which means all the measurements have to be perfect,” he said. “We’ve had to grind or recut some pieces.”
Four of the six benches have been mostly built but still need a few parts, and they still need to be sanded and fine-tuned before they are fit for public use. The benches are scheduled to be done in the spring.
“[The students] take a lot of pride in it,” McIntire said. “They asked me if they could be the ones to deliver them to the schools.”