For many people, the answer is pretty simple: you sit with your friends. But what if you don’t have any friends? What if you’re a newbie at school?
Most of us remember school as a place where we made lots of friends with whom we shared a lot of LOLs.
For some, school years are better off forgotten than cherished because they were bullied or just didn’t have that many friends. And let’s not forget lunchtime where you had to be sociable and mingle.
Just the thought of approaching a table full of people you don’t know because you don’t have anywhere to sit or you just don’t want to sit at a table alone must be the most frightening feeling ever.
However, there is still hope!
16-year-old Natalie Hampton from Sherman Oaks in California was one of the people who had this problem every lunchtime. She has now developed an app called ‘Sit With Us’, launched five days ago.
This new app will make it easier for students to find new friends at the cafeteria. The app gives students the opportunity to assign themselves as Sit With Us Ambassadors and create ‘open lunch’ events where students can join in. What a great concept!
The NPR’s All Things Considered interviewed Natalie and her inspiration behind this app creation was trying to prevent others having to eat lunch alone every day at school (she ate lunch alone throughout her entire seventh grade).
She knew that walking up to a table full of people would just end in rejection and it would make her feel very alone and extremely isolated.
On a happier note, this Sit With Us app will change a lot of people’s lives. It might just seem like another app to us, but for all the school kids who don’t have anyone to lunch with, this is a game changer.
The app has grabbed a lot of attention both at Natalie’s school and in the media. Students are already hosting open lunches at her school and we are talking about it now!
Well done, Natalie!
Can we get this app for workplaces as well?