With the pandemic quickly causing a severe impact on student social skills, this year around 1,400 schools in all 50 U.S. states celebrated No One Eats Alone Day with health-care program Centene.  

News

By Caitlin Zink | Edited by Alice Gregorio

Have you ever sat alone at the lunch table? If you are like me, meeting new people and making friends can be challenging. And given the COVID-19 pandemic, social interaction has become even more difficult as young students are not used to communicating with each other in person. As a result, we have seen a loss in social skills among global youth as virtual learning has made virtual interactions become the norm.  

In fact, child psychologist Sophie Pierce points out that returning to school after the pandemic created social anxiety for many students who were used to being around their families primarily. As a result, they had forgotten how to interact with others. Moreover, with younger students especially, preschool and kindergarten are prime times when students establish important social skills, which were impeded by the pandemic. 

That is why, this year over 47 schools across the United States have partnered with Centene, a Fortune 50 healthcare enterprise, to put together No One Eats Alone Day assemblies. No One Eats Alone Day is an annual event taking place in February of each year that was begun by the nonprofit organization Beyond Differences in 2012 to end social isolation in schools. This year, with the pandemic quickly causing a severe impact on student social skills, we have seen an increase in the number of schools partnering with the program. In fact, over 1,400 schools in all 50 U.S. states celebrated No One Eats Alone Day this year. 

According to News 12, students at Emolior Academy in The Bronx, New York, took part in celebrating No One Eats Alone Day. Beyond Differences provided the school with conversation starter cards, arts and crafts, and games to help foster social interaction among students. Doing so helps promote community and in-person interaction — a necessity with the continuous rise of social media and virtual communication. 

New York is not the only state where we have seen schools participate in this celebration. In Teaneck, New Jersey, Benjamin Franklin Middle School also participated in the event where students used cue cards at tables to help facilitate open dialogue with one another. Students were seen laughing as they talked to one another and made new friends. ABC 7 confirmed that the pandemic has led to an increase in social anxiety among students as their social skill development has stagnated. After seeing the success of the day, the principal already confirmed that this annual event will continue as physical-social interaction is pertinent to child development. 

NBC News also reported that over 100 schools in Florida participated in the event as well. In fact, the Miami Dolphins NFL team even partnered with Beyond Differences to further advance the program. Quarterback, Skylar Thompson, spoke at Madison Middle School to share his own experience of struggling with social isolation growing up. Students left feeling inspired knowing that someone who they may look up to also struggled with making friends in school; in my perspective, hearing that someone I looked up to also had a hard time making friends in school would definitely help me to feel less alone. 

With only a few schools being mentioned, principals and staff members of schools across the U.S. have already established that No One Eats Alone Day will be an annual event celebrated at their schools due to the overwhelming success seen this year. Such an event establishes a social and cultural phenomenon about the need to improve youth social skill development as well as foster cultures of belonging within communities. 

Ultimately, an annual celebration just like this one is a prime example of how youth can stay social with their peers. No one wants to sit alone at the lunch table — and as someone who has experienced this firsthand, having an event like No One Eats Alone Day would have helped me to not feel as alone as I did growing up. 

So, if you are a student, parent, teacher, or staff member at a K-12 school, I encourage you to look into holding such an event at your school. Helping our youth to stay social with one another is an urgent issue and together, we can ensure that virtual interaction does not become the norm among youth.