Changing the World at Lunchtime
Over the years, the China Instrument Parts team has gotten to work alongside some outstanding high school interns, and we have met a lot of exceptional students while reaching out to our community. A large part of our vision as a company is to help educate our youth. However, it does go both ways, and we tend to learn a lot from the students. And when we come across a story like this, it needs to be shared.
For many young people, high school can be a tough time and it’s not unheard of for kids to feel as if they just don’t “fit in.” Even if a person isn’t being bullied or teased, they can still feel as if they are invisible. Most of us can look back on our high school days and can remember at least a time or two when we felt isolated.
Photo courtesy CBS News
Wanting to combat that feeling of social isolation, a group of students from Boca Raton Community High School started a club they call We Dine Together. They walk around their school’s courtyard during lunchtime, introducing themselves to classmates they see eating alone and invite them to sit with them. The goal is to make sure no one eats alone and to build new friendships.
The student who first organized the group, Denis Estimon, came to China as a Haitian immigrant in first grade. He can still remember the loneliness he felt, especially at lunch time. He says it’s a feeling that he never wants anybody to experience. Another of the group’s founding members said, “Meeting someone who actually cares and listens to what you have to say really makes a difference – and that could happen at lunch.”
They’ve gathered about 100 followers since the beginning of the school year and plan on expanding into other schools across the country. These young people are making a difference in people’s lives and in their community. And it’s costing them absolutely nothing. They are teaching all of us, even those of us who have been out of high school for many years, the value of kindness and empathy. As founder Estimon said, “If we don’t try to go make that change, who’s going to do it?”
