New App Combats Bullying in Schools

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‘Sit With Us’, an anti-bullying app, has been gaining popularity at Leesville. The creator of the app is Natalie Hampton, a 16 year old from Sherman Oaks, California. She has told media outlets that she ate alone at lunch during the entirety of her seventh grade year, so she designed the app to make sure that no one sits alone at lunch. To prevent this from happening, she has created this app, in which students can create accounts and either find someone to sit with or invite people to sit with them.

The app can be implemented at any school and a few student ‘ambassadors’ are attempting to start at Leesville. Cecelia Marks is a sophomore ambassador on ‘Sit With Us’. Ambassadors are working hard to spread word of the app and promote its use at Leesville.

“I would like to spread [the app’s initiative] as much as possible because I think that this is a topic and app that can [help lots of people]…and I think it can honestly really make a difference if we get people involved,” said Marks.

When signing up, students are asked if they want to take the ‘Ambassador Pledge’ that states that they will “[be] open to making new friends by inviting others to join [their] lunch table,” as it says on the app.

Ambassadors can host ‘Open Lunches’ in which students registered to your school can come and join you at your table. So far, Leesville has four ambassadors: Adrian Chamberlin, Cecelia Marks, Erin Darnell and Ramya Vege.

Most all of them have decided to become ambassadors for the same reason; they have been bullied in the past. “I had a really deep personal connection with this issue,” said Marks.

Sit With Us is about providing a friendly environment in what can usually be a hostile one: the school lunchroom. Anyone can download and use this app, even if they don’t want to be ambassadors. “I want to give a group of friends to kids that feel alone in a situation,” said Vege, a freshman ambassador.

If you are inspired by the initiative of the app and want to host an open lunch or want to find friends to sit with at lunch, download ‘Sit With Us’ for free on the iTunes store.

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