‘Sit With Us’ App Makes Finding Lunch Friends Easy As Pie
Imagine being a new student in 7th grade. As lunchtime nears you start to get nervous, thinking, 'I'm going to have to eat alone because I don't know anyone yet.' Well thanks to a high school junior in California, those thoughts can now be a thing of the past.
School-aged children have 16-year-old Natalie Hampton of Thousand Oaks, California to thank for making lunchroom anxiety levels much lower.
Hampton told the L.A. Daily News that after she spent every day of her 7th grade year eating lunch completely alone, she decided to do something about it. Not just for her, but for others who experienced the same situation.
So she created 'Sit With Us.'
'Sit With Us' is an app for smartphones that helps students find a welcoming group in the lunchroom.
Students can choose to be 'ambassadors,' and invite others to join them by creating 'open' lunch groups, which are signals to others that they're invited and immediately welcome.
In an interview on NPR's All Things Considered, Hampton said she wanted to create the app because it prevents public rejection - something that can be a crippling thought for a young person.
“This way it’s very private. It’s through the phone. No one else has to know,” Hampton explained. “And you know that you’re not going to be rejected once you get to the table.”
Since her bad experience in 7th grade, Hampton has since changed schools and is thriving socially, but says she will never forget the feeling of eating alone all those times, and that's why she felt creating 'Sit With Us' was necessary.
So far the response has been fantastic.
“People are already posting open lunches at my school,” she told NPR. “So I’m very excited that things are already kicking off with a great start.”
The 'Sit With Us' app was launched on September 9, and can be downloaded from the Apple App Store.