The 744 students at Miano Elementary School, led by Principal Zelda Dias-Harper gathered on grass playground January 28 in the early afternoon to unveil a friendship bench, outside in the middle of the campus in memory of Kelly Arambel.
Arambel worked over 20 years for the Los Banos Unified School District. The last six years she was the head custodian of Miano Elementary. She passed away on June 13, 2024 after battling cancer. She was 59 years old.
As the children sat on the grass and listened, Dias-Harper expressed her close feelings for Arambel, not only as someone who took care of the custodial needs of the school, but for the friendships formed over the years with staff and students.
Family members and friends of Arambel also attended the ceremony.
Dias-Harper said that if Arambel saw a student with a sad face, she would take the time to greet and talk to the child in hopes of helping them with whatever they were dealing with.
It was that constant desire to help students while on the job that provided Dias-Harper with the idea of the friendship bench.
Dias-Harper explained to the students that the bench would be a place where students could go and sit if they were feeling sad and others who would see them sitting there could come and comfort them.
