Wilkinson County Middle School celebrates “National No One Eats Alone Day”

WILKINSON COUNTY, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – February 2, 2018 is “National No One Eats Alone Day.” Students at Wilkinson County Middle School are learning what this initiative is all about and how it impacts their school environment.

For part of the school day, six graders stepped away from the books and got their lessons by doing some hands on activities.

Representatives from Peach State Health Plan hosted an assembly to bring awareness of the initiative.

Melissa Adkins, Communications Relations Coordinator at Peach State Health Plan says, “The idea of this initiative is to eliminate isolation in schools.”

The goal is for students to lift up their peers and let them know that they’re no alone.

“We know that a lot of kids suffer with depression just because they feel like they don’t fit in or they feel like they don’t belong with a certain group,” Adkins explains.

During lunch time is when students are able to be social on their own and some kids feel left out. Friday’s lesson is to change that.

Sixth grader Timia Jones says, “They can sit with them and they can just have a conversation and know each other more.”

Students were able to create scenarios by making up a skit or any visual to demonstrate how to make others feel like they’re not alone.

“We created a banner. Our theme was no one eats alone and we created a banner telling all the things no one should do alone,” sixth grader Elijah Hall explains.

After understanding the negative impact it can have on student’s health and academic performance, the lesson goes beyond those four walls.

“I probably go post on social media and tell people that people should not feel alone and people actually do care about them,” sixth grader Kirsten Hudson says.

This is the second year Peach State Health Plan traveled to different school promoting the “No One Eats Alone” initiative.