STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Totten Intermediate School (I.S. 34) in Tottenville was among many schools on Friday celebrating “No One Eats Alone Day,” a national event in which students take the lead in promoting inclusivity.
The day encourages students in grades 5-8 to make the cafeteria a more welcoming place by connecting with classmates they might not usually sit with. Teachers and staff support this effort to help reduce loneliness and bullying at lunchtime every day.
On Friday, the day before Valentine’s Day and the end of “Respect for All” week, students dressed in red and pink.
The goal was to help students feel included and valued, as Principal John Boyle and guidance counselor Theresa Russo, with her team, got 6th graders up and dancing during lunch.
Boyle said the school makes inclusivity a daily priority.
“We are always on the lookout for anyone sitting alone,” he said. “We give the students the ability to sit wherever they want. So if they have a friend in another class, they can always jump over and sit with them.”
Russo said, “There are always deans, administrators, school aides, guidance counselors down here, kind of just observing to make sure, if we do notice that anyone might be a little bit by themselves at any point during the year, we then encourage them to join a social group, or we encourage and empower other students who are more outgoing, to kind of bring those kids in and make it a more inclusive lunch period for them.”
“No One Eats Alone Day” began in 2012 and has since grown to include more than 2,500 schools nationwide.