Buddy Bench aims to ensure no El Morro student is alone

A once-plain aluminum bench near the playground at El Morro Elementary School has been transformed into a colorful means for bringing students together.

If a student is lonely during recess or lunch, he or she takes a seat on the Buddy Bench and waits for an invitation from a classmate to play a game, or simply talk and hang out.

The only rule: A student sitting on the bench cannot refuse an invitation.

Carrie Jenal, a speech language pathologist, and Elizabeth Harris, a resource specialist, read about the bench idea in a news article and suggested to Principal Chris Duddy that the Laguna Beach school create its own.

“We’re out [on the playground] a lot with special education students and found there was a need [for interaction],” Jenal said standing next to the bench on Friday. “Sometimes they are not engaged. If a student is too shy to go up to a classmate, he or she can sit here and someone who is real social comes over.”

At first, Duddy looked in a catalog and found a Buddy Bench for $1,800, not including shipping. There had to be a less-expensive, less-generic solution.

Duddy approached the school’s PTA and found willing participants to spearhead the project.

PTA members Celine Macmillan and Deborah Paswaters liked the concept and began the task of transforming an existing bench into something more inviting.

Paswaters is a professional artist who specializes in painting and sculpting. She grabbed a sketchbook and began drawing sea lions, the school’s mascot, to incorporate on the bench.

Macmillian, who co-chairs the Character Counts Committee, which encourages students to exhibit qualities such as respect, responsibility and trustworthiness, thought the bench would be an ideal place to publicize those traits as well.

So Macmillan and Paswaters spent five days painting sea lions and writing the Character Counts qualities on the bench, which has a different color for each quality. The PTA footed the entire $250 bill.

The finished bench was unveiled to students during both lunch periods Feb. 2. Students pledged to be on the lookout for classmates sitting on the bench by signing their names on a large piece of orange construction paper taped to a wall just steps from the seat.

The idea caught on, Macmillian said.

“In an hour we witnessed a whole bunch of kids sitting on the bench who then ran off and played together,” she said.