Little Girl's Big Dream a Reality at Wayland School

Photo via TinyGirlBigDream.org

On Friday, the Loker Elementary School in Wayland will officially receive a “Friendship Bench.”

The bench is to, “Put a spotlight on all the goodness, random acts of kindness.....A world where acts of violence are replaced by acts of kindness.”

The idea for the Friendship Bench came from a young girl attending an elementary school in Minnesota. Acacia Woodley was born without the complete formation of her arms, and as a result, never felt “normal.” She always felt left out.

She decided to speak up and share the importance of friendship and including others, said the press release. To do this, she and her mom started Tiny Girl Big Dream.

To exemplify this dream, Woodley and her mom are touring the county visiting different schools to donate Friendship Benches.

The dedication for the Loker School bench is on Friday, April 17, at 9 a.m., which will officially welcome this rainbow-colored bench with specific words representing the school.

“This bench will represent a location where children can spend time with one another, resolve conflicts, look out for one another in seeing the good in others and for teachers to gather the class to discuss the meaning of the words inscribed on the bench,” said school representatives in a release. “This type of character education is vital to the children’s development as they progress through their elementary years.”