Fitting in is not always easy and lacking friends while in high school can be devastating. Unless a student has good crew to save them a seat, it is often a big challenge and even more difficult than we assume to find a place at the school and the lunchroom where they won’t be avoided, chastised or completely ignored.
The High School Musical movie series hit home the different cliques in school from the jocks to the drama stars to the mathletes. The lunchroom can be a scary jungle for the kids who didn’t feel like they fit in somewhere.
Mom Kay Kirby always texted her son during his lunch break at school. Andrew often sat alone at lunch and it broke her heart — in fact, he had dined alone for the past four years at school.
He usually hangs out on his phone playing games to pass the time during lunch, but on the first day of school, something huge happened. Kay couldn’t believe it happened to her son!
“The thought of our son or any child eating alone every day breaks our hearts.”
As Andrew hopped into the car after school, he began gushing about what occurred during lunch. The look on his face had Kay worried at first.
“Mom, I didn’t eat alone! Some student council members asked me and three others eating alone to come sit with them, and said we could eat with them again tomorrow, too!”
Kay was in disbelief. It was true — the Boiling Springs High School student council approached four students who were eating by themselves, including Andrew, and invited them to join the council at their table.
It literally made Andrew’s day! Kay just had to take a photo of Andrew after school and share it on Facebook to spread the news and applaud the student council for what they had done.
“These students may not have thought this was a big deal, but it was an answer to prayer and a great encouragement for Andrew. THANK YOU to those students, you made a difference today!”
Andrew told Fox Carolina that he was thrilled to not eat alone. Even more importantly, he finally felt he was part of a group.
“It makes me feel happy that I can eat with people.”
The school district responded to Kay’s post, lauding the students’ actions. Spartanburg County School District 2 said it hoped all students would feel comfortable at lunch.
“We typically do not share posts from personal pages, but this is a very worthwhile exception. This post shows the loving community we live in, the character of our students and the family-feel of our schools. We are so thankful that Andrew had a great First Day of School in D2!”
One of the students who invited Andrew to sit with him, Damian Howarth, said it’s sad that it took this long for Andrew to find someone to sit with during lunch. He said the council members should’ve asked him before now, as should’ve other students, too.
Still, Andrew was thrilled that he was finally asked to sit with kids and didn’t hesitate to take the student council up on their invitation. The very next day of school, he was waiting for them at their lunch table.
What an awesome group of teens trying to make a difference for fellow classmates. Good luck this school year!