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Students at Tryon Elementary School received a Buddy Bench as a welcome addition to their playground. The blue and gold bench was constructed and donated by Girl Scout Troop 13161.

The members of the troop had the idea to build a Buddy Bench as part of their “Think Like an Engineer” journey and discussed their plan with Kevin Weis, the principal at TES. He was pleased to learn that a Buddy Bench provided an opportunity for students to establish new friendships: students who are new to school or just looking for a new friend can sit on the bench to find a new buddy. So the Girl Scouts got to work, sanding, priming and painting the wood that would make the bench. One group of Scouts decorated the bench with their own colorful handprints and letters. Another group of girls worked on the installation of the bench, digging holes and mixing cement. A third group of girls imagined a video that could be shown to the elementary school, explaining the purpose of the Buddy Bench. For this part, the girls met with Marianne Carruth and Darlene Cah from Tryon Fine Arts to get ideas for their video. A script was created, and all the Girl Scouts in troop 13161 performed in brief skits that were recorded and edited by Michelle Newman. Finally, the girls’ dream of a Buddy Bench for Tryon Elementary School was realized. Of course, they could not have completed this task without the help of their parents, leaders, and community partners who graciously offered their time and special skills to achieve this goal.