East Lake School to Receive 'Koda Bench'

A more friendly and inclusive school environment is being promoted through a collaborative project launched by Massapequa High School art and technology students. Together, these students are designing and constructing Koda Benches for the playgrounds of three elementary schools — Unqua, East Lake and Lockhart. Koda is a Native American word meaning friend or companion. The benches feature positive, inspirational symbols and sayings intended to help students embrace acceptance of all students.

“The bench will be a place for a child to go when needing a friend to play with or talk to, or where friends can go to sit together and talk,” explained art teacher Penny Schneider. The concept is similar to the “Buddy Bench,” which many schools have added to their grounds, but Schneider wanted to put her own spin on the idea and ramp up the creativity factor.

The idea of the Koda Bench was presented to all six elementary schools in the district. The first three schools to express interest were selected for the project because only three per year can be created, Schneider said. Students in her Drawing and Painting 1 and Ceramics classes created various designs for the benches and made intricately painted, miniature cardboard models of them. The elementary school principals chose four of their favorite designs and then their students voted for their favorite one using the district’s learning management system, Haiku.

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East Lake students favored a bench design that features ice cream cones and the slogan “Friendship is sweet.” Lockhart selected a bench with trees and little birds that bears the saying, “Friends are the family we choose for ourselves.” Unqua’s bench promotes “Furry Friends” and is designed as a raccoon, the school’s mascot. According to Schneider, the schools are receiving the benches as a “gift” from the high school classes. Because the project is done in the classroom and is incorporated into the curriculum for the art and technology classes, supplies come from the district’s operating budget.

Technology students in James Desantis’ class made construction plans and a materials list based on the art students’ designs, and will soon be in the process of building the benches.

“From this task, the students learn important parts of technical work: project planning, developing plans and cut sheets, estimating and ordering materials, and eventually constructing the final project,” Desantis said. “The students are excited to be working on projects that will be going back to the elementary schools they attended.”

After the benches are built, which is targeted for mid-March, they will go back to the art students for several weeks of painting. The benches will then be coated for outdoor use and installed at each school playground in the spring for all students to enjoy.

Schneider, who has partnered with Desantis on numerous service-oriented projects, said, “I really love these real-life projects that ‘give back’ and ‘pay it forward’ as I always explain to my students. I think my students get just as much out of creating and giving of themselves as do the recipients of our masterpieces!”

Courtesy of Massapequa Schools

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