One of Clyde Hamrick Elementary School's Girls on the Run team was awarded the Bill and Amy Koman Award for Excellence in Community Service.
Clyde Hamrick is part of the Fox School District, and the elementary school has a fall and spring Girls on the Run team. The spring team, made up of 16 girls, won the award for its “Buddy Bench” project.
For the project, the girls helped build a wooden bench that is designed to foster friendship and community togetherness.
“The idea behind the bench is that if a student is feeling lonely or isolated, they can sit on the bench so that someone will interact with them and develop new friendships,” said Missy Hawk, one of the Clyde Hamrick Girls on the Run coaches.
"The Buddy Bench will help students to open their eyes to the world around them, and see new friendships that they never thought were possible," said Nevaeh Fisk, one of the Girls on the Run team members.
Another team member’s parents, Brandon and Kristie Stuart, bought the materials for the bench and oversaw construction, Hawk said.
Each of the girls had the chance to decorate the bench by dipping their hands in paint and placing them on the bench, Hawk added.
She said the bench will be installed in the school’s playground over the summer.
The Clyde Hamrick Girls on the Run teams meet twice a week afterschool to run and learn strategies to help them cope with problems and build self esteem, Hawk said.
Also, the girls participate in a Girls on the Run 5K run held in St. Louis, she said.
Part of the Girls on the Run curriculum focuses on empowering young girls to share their strengths and use their talents to positively impact the community, Hawk said, and at the end of each semester, the Bill and Amy Koman Award is given to the Girls on the Run teams that best demonstrate creativity, teamwork and shared commitment in planning and executing their community service project.
Out of more than 250 schools in the St. Louis Girls on the Run Chapter (the largest council in the international organization), the Clyde Hamrick team won third place for the Buddy Bench, Hawk said.
“We are very proud of our Girls on the Run Team and our coaches,” Clyde Hamrick principal Liz Anderson said.
The head coaches are Meredith Hartmann and Missy Hawk, and the assistant coaches are Trish Porter and Martha Mark.
The community service award is named after Bill and Amy Koman, who support the Girls on the Run program and the St. Louis community, Hawk said.
