It was last spring and soon-to-be Bow High senior Jack Rich was looking for an idea for his senior project.
Rich was going to focus on anti-bullying, but then his mom sent him a link to the website for Tiny Girl, Big Dream, and immediately Rich loved the idea. It wasn’t so much about telling people not to bully each other, but more about promoting friendship.
“Basically it’s ‘Need a friend? Sit here,’ ” he said.
The mission of the company is to place a friendship bench in every school across the country – and Rich wanted to do his part to help. So he came up with a plan to fundraise enough to purchase a friendship kit for Bow Elementary by asking friends, family and local businesses, to help.
“I saw a lot more bullying last year than any other year,” Rich said. “So I wanted to do this as my senior project.”
It turns out that Rich is a better fundraiser than he expected because he raised enough for the friendship kit, which also includes ‘I am Amazing’ bracelets for each student and markers to personalize the bench, for Bow Elementary within a few weeks. By the time he was done bringing in money, he had totaled $1,950. So he figured, since Dunbarton Elementary students go to Bow once they enter middle school, why not get them a bench too?
“These benches are the first two benches from the company to ever come to New Hampshire,” Rich said.
And just last Friday, Acacia Woodley, the 14-year-old who founded Tiny Girl, Big Dream at the age of 10, came all the way to New Hampshire to help present the benches to the students at both schools. Rich had sent Woodley a personal letter over the summer when he purchased the first bench and Woodley sent a note back. The two began talking and eventually led to Woodley wanting to come to the schools for the presentation. Luckily she was going to be in New York for another dedication and didn’t have to make the trip all the way from Florida.
“She was so moved that I wrote a personal card,” said Rich, which featured art work from his elementary school days.
The bench at Bow Elementary will be placed near the playground, so you can imagine it will get a lot of use.
“He didn’t have to sell me,” said Bow Elementary Principal Kurt Gergler. “Kids like colors and like sitting together.”
The whole goal is to promote friendship. If you’re feeling lonely or want someone to talk to, sit on the bench and that will let others know you need a friend. And if you see someone sitting on the bench, grab a seat and start a conversation.
“My hope is we can get it into the lingo, keep the purpose of the bench alive,” Gergler said. “As a reminder they can work things out.”
Sounds a lot better than calling someone names or leaving them out.
“My project is on positive school culture,” Rich said. “What is the effect of teaching kids early to be kind at school?”
What really drew Rich to the bench was the vibrant colors (as you can clearly see from the picture), and of course what it stands for. It just seems to promote happiness and friendship, something Rich hopes will come out of it being put at both schools.
“Everyone I tell about the bench, they fall in love with it,” Rich said.
The words written on the Bow Elementary bench were chosen by Rich and painted on by art teacher Kim Bryant.
“I thought about words that have positive meaning,” Rich said.
And just an FYI, Rich gets a little shout-out on the bench, which is deserving to say the least. It’s not like many school budgets have a line for friendship benches.
Rich will also get to see the effects first hand, as part of his project will include going to Bow Elementary as a recess volunteer on Fridays. And the school is going to recognize when the bench does it’s job, by creating a list of student names who responded to the bench and putting them on the wall in the cafeteria in the shape of a catepillar.
For more on Tiny Girl, Big Dream and the friendship bench, visit tinygirlbigdream.org.
October 4, 2016
Thanks so much for a great story and picture, Tim Goodwin!! So very proud of Jack!