Natalie Hampton had a traumatic time during high school. The 16-year-old was severely bullied. Things even got physical.
“I was physically attacked on multiple occasions. In addition to that, I was cyber-bullied and verbally attacked,” she said.
Lunch was the most difficult part of the day. Hampton would sit alone and that would only fuel the constant harassment.
“I ate alone every day for two years,” she said. “And I have personally felt the rejection, isolation and embarrassment that goes along with that.”
Hampton knew the deep pain of being bullied and she didn't want anyone else to feel that way. She got to thinking and came up with an app called Sit With Us. Students sign up and are paired with other students from the app to eat lunch together.
No student ever has to eat alone again. Over 3,000 students have downloaded it.
“[Ambassadors] agree to post ‘open lunches’ and these lunches are visible to everyone else in the school, so anyone who doesn’t know where to go, or doesn’t know who to sit with, can join your lunch and join your table and make friends with you,” Hampton said.
Not only is it a great way to stop bullying, it's just an all around awesome tool to meet new people.
“I think the real change happens when kids help kids, because an adult telling you not to bully isn’t going to stop you,” she said.
Please SHARE if you think Natalie Hampton is one brilliant student!
