High schoolers in Jordan School District install ‘Buddy Benches' at elementary schools
SOUTH JORDAN, Utah () — Elementary school students across the Jordan School District received Buddy Benches this month, which were a gift from older students in the district.
The Buddy Bench is a place to help make new friends if you are lonely at recess. A group of seniors in the Jordan School District know first-hand how the benches work, so they designed and built benches for their younger friends in the district.
ABC4.com was at the party at Monte Vista Elementary School when the students received their gift. It was an assembly where the school was surprised with their new recess accessory.
'Somebody notices:' Kindness classes taught at Utah State Correctional Facility boost community
A group of welding, construction management, and education students from the Jordan School District's Academy of Technology and Careers teamed up to not just design the benches, but build them and then introduce them to the schools.
Makayla Bird is a senior at Mountain Ridge High School. She was part of the student group.
Makayla explained, 'We are focusing a lot on inclusion and not really focusing on the fact that bullying is bad; but really focusing on the positive reinforcement and really focusing on kids being kind to others.'
Makayla didn't build the 18 benches being distributed across the district, but she did work with classmates to make sure the benches didn't just support the students — she made sure they learned how to use them. That was the goal of the assembly.
Makayla continued, 'We did it all together, and we planned what we wanted. We knew we wanted to focus on things that were real problems within the schools, so we came and talked with the principals with the schools — so we knew what our targeted audience was needed.'
This project was important for each of the students involved, not just because it was an important task, but because they know a Buddy Bench can work.
Makayla explained, 'A lot of the welding students had their own experience with buddy bench in elementary school and they saw the positive impact it had.'
Blair Jensen teaches the welding students. He was the one who got the idea going, but he said it was the students who made it happen.
Jensen said, 'It was designed by the students. It was built by the students. The prototype was made by my welding students, then came the teacher education students and construction management. It's three programs working on it together.'
After the assembly, they installed the bench outside the school — a gift for the younger generation and a step forward for the older students in their futures.
Jensen explained, 'My focus is to getting them successful in a career and I think stuff like this having an impact in your community, that's crucial for being successful.'
If you know of Acts of Kindness in your community, we want to share their stories. Please email us at .
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
15 hours ago
- Yahoo
Annual Utah Pride Parade held in downtown Salt Lake City
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah (ABC4) — Tens of thousands of spectators lined the streets in downtown Salt Lake for the 35th Annual Utah Pride Parade on Sunday. Organizations from all across the stated participated in Sunday's parade, including ABC4. The Pride Parade, hosted by the Utah Pride Center, is the largest LGBTQ+ event in the state, drawing nearly 150,000 spectators and participants every year per the Pride Center. The theme this year is 'Radical Love'. Organizers say they chose this theme because they believe Utah is a state that can be polarizing sometimes. With state legislators passing laws directed their community like the pride flag ban, to the city stepping in to find a way to let the flag fly tall at city hall. They believe this year they are responding by celebrating love in a radical way. Chad Call, Executive Director of the Utah Pride Center told ABC4, 'Building ally-ship and creating ally-ship, it takes time.' He continued, 'I really believe this in my heart of hearts [that] It's really difficult to hate up close and when we get close to people, we see that people are just people, and that they're here to be loved. They want to love. They want to be loved. That, really, our queer community is no different from anyone else.' Sunday's parade was one of many events held in Salt Lake City this weekend as part of the pride celebration, including a two day long festival and a march from the Utah State Capitol to Washington Square Park on Saturday. Dedication ceremony held for Syracuse LDS Temple BREAKING: Lightning caused fire burning near Duchesne Annual Utah Pride Parade held in downtown Salt Lake City Weber County Sheriff's Office mourns passing of K-9 Nova Three people arrested after car chase ends with crash in Nephi Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Yahoo
Niagara County seeing an increase in food insecurity
Food insecurity has increased in Niagara, Erie, Cattaraugus and Chautauqua counties in the past year, according to Feeding America, a nationwide network of food banks, food pantries and meal programs. The latest results of the annual Map the Meal Gap study show that Niagara County's overall food insecurity rate has reached 13.3%, up from 12.6% in 2022. Among Niagara County's children, 19% face a lack of sufficient food, compared to 17.9% in 2022. 'When you tell me it's 19% for children — most school districts now are providing free meals,' said Major Tom Duperree of the Salvation Army of Lockport, which operates a food pantry and soup kitchen with groceries from FeedMore WNY and other donors. 'So it's evening time for the children because they're being fed in the daytime hours. It's alarming to me.' Duperree, who stocked shelves in the Salvation Army's food pantry Wednesday, has seen demand for the organization's meals and pantry items increase. But there's a new dimension to hunger developing with children. 'Late last year, I remember a high school teacher coming here, and there were two students,' he said. 'The parents had said to both of these children, 'Because you have a part-time job after school, you're no longer getting fed here.' One of the teachers took the lead in bringing the students down here to learn to navigate the food pantry.' According to Denyel Beiter, spokesperson for the Lockport City School District, all district students receive free breakfast and lunch through the US Department of Agriculture's Community Eligibility Provision. Beiter said the district was approved for the program because its poverty rate is over 60%. Mark Laurrie, superintendent of Niagara Falls City School District, said the study's findings of a 6% increase in food insecurity was not a surprise. 'I think that's conservative.' He said 82% of Niagara Falls students use the district's free breakfast and lunch program. Laurrie said announcing a snow day on a Friday is one of the hardest decisions he makes because he knows children will go without food all weekend. 'Abate Elementary has 650 kids, and does 86 backpacks for each weekend,' he said of filling bags with food for children. 'In every one of our elementary schools, we have a backpack program for the weekend,' Laurrie said. 'In our middle schools and high school, we have a food pantry and our social workers are taking kids to that pantry.' Since 2021, the number of people relying on FeedMore WNY, a hunger relief organization, increased by 46%. The need for supplemental food is driven by high grocery store prices, job loss, and increases in other costs, FeedMore said. 'These are community members of all ages, backgrounds and circumstances, including families working multiple jobs trying to make ends meet, older adults surviving on fixed incomes, people living with disabilities, and children,' Collin Bishop, chief communications officer for FeedMore WNY. Nationally, more than 2 out of 5 people facing hunger may not qualify for SNAP benefits due to income limits. In FeedMore WNY's service area, 34% of people facing hunger may not qualify for SNAP and 26% of children facing hunger may not qualify for free or reduced-price meals. Duperree said Salvation Army clients frequently describe how their budgets are too tight to meet all their living expenses. 'Their rents have gone up so high, in such a short period of time, that by the time they pay their rent, the resources they have left over is barely enough,' he said. 'A recurring story at Salvation Army is that 'if it weren't for the meal I get here if it weren't for the food pantry, I wouldn't be able to make ends meet.' ' 'It's tough enough for the adults, but the childhood factor is just very concerning,' Duperree said.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Yahoo
Residents react to 4.8 earthquake in Caliente, Nevada
CALIENTE, Nevada () — A 4.8 magnitude earthquake hit the area of Caliente, Nevada around 1 a.m. Friday morning. It was a light earthquake 25 miles south southwest of Caliente according to reports, but residents were still able to feel it. 'I was in the kitchen cooking cookies for our yard sale this weekend, all of a sudden there was a rumbling!' one resident told The earthquake had a depth of three miles, and it could be felt for almost 60 miles. 'We're so used to the trains coming in and out, that that's not– It's almost, I'd say, soothing for somebody that was born here, but that was definitely not like that. You could feel it shake the house,' another resident said. She also said that she has a dog that gets scared by thunderstorms and other loud noises, so she was waiting for it to stop. 'We have a lot of sonic booms, you know, a lot of, I guess, Nellis Air Force activity, so they do a lot of training and stuff, so I thought it was something like that, but it just went a lot longer,' she continued. Joseph DeGolyer contributed to the reporting of this story. Residents react to 4.8 earthquake in Caliente, Nevada Escaped inmate known as 'Devil in the Ozarks' found a 'short distance' from prison: sheriff Musk floats 'The American Party' after Trump tiff Myths VS Facts: What health officials want you to know about the MMR vaccine Good4Utah Road Tour: Willard Bay State Park Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
