Local Girl Scout Completes Silver Award By Giving Back to Alton School District
Kennedy Ridgley built buddy benches for Lovejoy Elementary School students, earning her one of the highest Girl Scout honors.
ALTON - A local Girl Scout recently went above and beyond to serve her community.
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Kennedy Ridgley, a freshman at Alton High School, has completed her Silver Award, one of the highest honors a Girl Scout can achieve. As part of this award, Kennedy built two buddy benches for Lovejoy Elementary School students so they can learn how to make friends.
“Kids around the world don’t get the basic social skills on how to make friends,” Kennedy said. “I wanted to help out with that and just teach them that it’s not that scary once you know what to do.”
On Monday, Sept. 29, 2025, Kennedy and fellow Girl Scout Chloe Freeman showed the students at Lovejoy Elementary School how to use the buddy benches. Kennedy explained that students can sit on the benches, and their friends can approach them to make conversation or ask to play. The benches will be placed on the Lovejoy Elementary School playground.
Kennedy started working on her Silver Award project as a sixth-grader. She brought the plans to Home Depot, and the business donated the materials she needed to build the benches. Working with her grandfather, dad and brother, Kennedy built the benches over the next few months.
Lowe’s donated the paint, and Peggy Brooks volunteered to paint the benches to look like the characters Mike and Sully from “Monsters, Inc.” Kennedy and Freeman filmed a video demonstrating how to use the benches so future generations of students can benefit from them, as well.
Jackie Ridgley, Kennedy’s mother and leader of Girl Scout Troop 325, works at Lovejoy Elementary School as a secretary. Kennedy collaborated with Principal John Ducey to coordinate the assembly. She was excited to give back to the Alton School District.
“I really appreciate how much they’ve given to me,” she said. “I already knew some of the staff, and the students are so cute.”
Looking ahead, Kennedy and Freeman will both begin work on their Gold Award, which is the equivalent of the Eagle Scout honor in Boy Scouts. Both girls expressed their appreciation for the Girl Scouts program.
“You should definitely join Girl Scouts,” Kennedy said. “It's definitely such a good way to make friends, and they teach you some really good lessons, especially about making friends. They teach you how to take care of yourself, mental health, a lot of things. And you get to do a lot of things that you wouldn’t usually get to do.”
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