A group of high school students in the US have formed a club to ensure no student eats alone at lunchtime.
Denis Estimon, a senior student at Boca High in Florida, told CBS News that he founded the ‘We Dine Together’ club based on his own experiences of lunchtime isolation as a Haitian immigrant.
With 3,400 of the school’s students all lunching at the same time, some are bound to be excluded and Denis says he has never forgotten the feeling,
“It’s not a good feeling, like you’re by yourself. And that’s something that I don’t want anybody to go through. To me it’s like, if we don’t try to go make that change, who’s going to do it?”
Denis started ‘We Dine Together’ with some friends and the group make it their mission to go into the school’s social areas at lunchtime and ensure no one is unwillingly spending the break period alone.
Student Jean Max Meradieu, gave up his prestigious place on the school’s football team in order to become more involved with the group,
“I don’t mind not getting a football scholarship. This is what I really want to do.”
Club member Allie Sealy transferred to Boca High two years ago and says that the social club makes a big difference to a lot of students’ lives,
“I went from a school where I always had friends – to coming to where I had nobody.
It just seems really unfair. It’s honestly an issue.
Meeting someone who actually cares and listens to what you have to say, really makes a difference. And that can happen at lunch, that can happen at our club. It’s going to make a difference.”
Denis and his inspiring team now plan to open ‘We Dine Together’ clubs at schools across the US.
What a bunch of heroes!
Image: CBS News
