Sisters lead effort to get buddy bench for elementary school; bench dedicated during National Bully Prevention Month
Courtesy of Michelle Zirngibl
Wylandville Elementary students clean plastic bottle caps that children at the school collected from January through summer for a Buddy Bench.
Courtesy of Michelle Zirngibl
Abby Zirngibl, left, and her sister, Madelyn, visited Green Tree Plastics In Evansville, Ind., where they delivered 200 pounds of plastic bottle caps in return for a Buddy Bench.
Karen Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
The leadership team that led the Wylandville Elementary School effort to collect plastic bottle caps for a Buddy Bench sits on the bench after a recent school day. Bottom, from left, are Brooklyn Galicic, Ellie Stella, Madelyn Zirngibl, Colby Foster and Nolan McCarron; back row, from left, Shane Martin, Nina Stella, Nora McCarron, Amelia McCarron and Abby Zirngibl.
Madelyn Zirngibl was enjoying recess on the playground last fall when she noticed a classmate who was alone and looked sad.
Mady, then a fourth-grader at Wylandville Elementary School, knew the girl was going through a hard time, so she walked over and asked her to play.
When Mady got home from school that day, the now-10-year-old told her mother about the encounter and they talked about how overwhelming it can be for some children to play or interact with classmates at recess.
Mady wanted to find a creative way to keep kids from feeling left out.
Her solution: a Buddy Bench.
When a child feels lonely, he or she can sit on the bench, a way to let others know they’re looking for someone to play with. They also can be a safe place for a child to go if they’re bullied, or want to alert teachers to a problem.
Madelyn and her sister, Abby, a third-grader at Wylandville, led a yearlong project at Wylandville, which included all students, to fund and purchase the Buddy Bench.
The bench was dedicated on Tuesday, during National Bully Prevention Week.
Last fall, the girls and their mother met with principal Shannon Balch, who supported the initiative, which is in line with Canon-McMillan School District’s goal to create an inclusive culture.
“I love this because we were able to make it a schoolwide venture. It’s a kid-driven project completed totally by the students,” said Michelle Zirngibl.
The sisters, with their mother’s help, began researching how to acquire a bench, and discovered Green Tree Plastics in Evansville, Ind., a company that makes Buddy Benches from recycled plastic caps and lids.
Mady and Abby formed a leadership team – a core group to decorate buckets, make promotional signs and spearhead the project – and in January the students began collecting plastic bottle caps with a goal of gathering 250 pounds, which is approximately the amount required for Green Tree Plastics to make a Buddy Bench.
The students exceeded expectations, collecting 700 pounds of plastic bottle caps by June (Michelle Zirngibl said she will happily give the 500 pounds of recyclable plastic to any schools willing to pick up the caps and launch their own Buddy Bench initiatives).
Over summer, the students got together at the Zirngibl home to sort, clean and weigh the caps.
“It was a lot of work, but it was worth it,” said Colby Foster, a member of the leadership team.
On Oct. 4, the sisters traveled to Indiana to drop off the bottle caps and bring home the blue and gold Buddy Bench.
They placed a marker on Canonsburg on a map of the United States at Green Tree Plastics that displays the towns throughout the country where buddy benches are located.
“This has been an awesome experience. It gave the kids the opportunity to help our environment and help one another,” said Michelle Zirngibl. “I loved that the students worked toward a common goal, and that the project taught them about recycling and being kind to each other.”
At Tuesday’s dedication ceremony, students also performed a skit that explained the purpose of the Buddy Bench.
One in 4 kids say they’ve experienced bullying in school, and 3.2 million children are victimized by bullies each year.
Abby wants her peers to know they are accepted and cared about.
The Buddy Bench, she hopes, encourages children “to make friends with everyone, even if you don’t know them. Everyone has something special to offer.”