Issue link: http://educator.cta.org/i/859531
a member of the Ventura Unified Educa- tion Association. "Being humanitarians h elps stud ents c onn e ct to th e w orl d around us." C l u b P re s i d e n t O l i v i a Ve l a s q u e z , a senior this year, says it offers more than a safe place to eat lunch. She believes the rich discussions will eventually help transform the overall school climate. S enior Ma ckenzi e P in a think s th e Humanitarian Initiative Club helps stu- dents feel more hopeful about the future. "e world isn't all bad. But when bad things happen, it's what you hear about. O n e of my goal s h ere as a student i s becoming empowered to make changes in the world. I want other students to know that together, we can be that pos- itive change." GETTING TO KNOW YOU No One Eats Alone (nooneeatsalone.org) suggests a few fun games and icebreakers so students can get to know one another. For example: Toilet Paper Game 1. Ask each player how many squares of toilet paper they want, but don't tell them why. Set a limit from five to 50 and give them the requested number. 2. Go around the room and have each person say one thing about himself or herself for each square until they 're finished. Everyone should say their name as the thing they share for the first square. Left: Emmet Cullen and Farah Ali created the Humanitarian Initiative Club. Below, students MacKenzie Pina and Olivia Velasquez in discussion at the club. Need someone to eat with? There's an app for that Sixteen-year-old Natalie Hampton knows what it's like to be lonely at lunchtime. At her old school, she was ostra- cized by her classmates and ate lunch alone every day. Often she would walk up to a table and ask if she could sit down — only to be rejected. "It really impacted me," says Hampton, now a senior at Oakwood School in North Hollywood. "It was extremely embar- rassing. It chipped away at my self-esteem and confidence." At her new school, she made a point of asking others to join her if they were sitting alone. Some became her close friends. Then she was inspired to create an app called Sit With Us, which allows students to find wel- coming lunch tables if they have nowhere to go. The app is free, and since its release in 2016 has been downloaded more than 100,000 times and used in seven countries. Students sign up to be "ambassadors" and "host" a lunch. Others can see, in a dis- creet manner, who is hosting and choose a table where they will be welcomed. At her school, ambassadors span every grade level. "I'd like to say it has impacted our school environment, and I do see fewer people sitting by themselves," says Hampton. "My biggest hope is that it will create a lasting impact and friend- ships, not only in my school community, but others." To learn more about Sit With Us, visit Hampton's web- site, sitwithus.io. 35 A U G U S T / S E P T E M B E R 2 017