For many young children, elementary school marks the first time they begin to interact with a larger peer social group and start to make lifelong friends.
But for those students at Mamquam Elementary School who may be a little shy or have trouble making new acquaintances in the playground, there’s a new “friendship bench” that was installed June 22.
“My mom saw a picture of a friendship bench along with a description of what it was for,” said nine-year-old Julia Fujimagari.
“The idea is that if someone is lonely and they want to find someone to play with, they can just come and sit on the bench to show they are looking for a friend.”
Fujimagari shared the idea with her Mamquam Elementary School principal Rose MacKenzie, who loved the concept.
“Julia spoke to me about the friendship bench and then someone told me about Peter Poburan, who makes amazing things out of reclaimed materials,” said MacKenzie. “So I contacted him to see if he was interested in maybe building the bench for us.”
It was an easy decision for Poburan. “I had all the parts already in the garage,” he said. “Basically, I reclaim stuff that would normally would end up in the dump, and turn it into something usable and useful like lamps or furniture.”
Poburan said the cedar pieces for the Friendship Bench came from wood cutoffs found at the Squamish log sort, while another piece came from the Squamish recycling store.
MacKenzie said she was proud of Fujimagari’s efforts to improve the lives of Mamquam Elementary students.
“It’s such a great idea to have a place students can go to indicate they’re looking for a friend, so nobody has to be lonely in the schoolyard,” MacKenzie said. “Julia has left us an amazing legacy here.”
