No One Eats or Plays Alone Day

Wednesday, February 26th is a day set to bring attention to the issue of social isolation within our schools and communities. This day is called “No one eats or plays alone” day. Nellie Bennett Elementary School decided to implement this day through their Character Education Program. There were a handful of high school students who are part of the Student Council that were bused over from Point Pleasant High School to Nellie Bennett elementary school. The day started with the older kids immersing themselves within the Kindergarten recess. 

High school students found it easy to introduce themselves to the open-minded elementary aged students. This was the overall goal of the day, to teach the students of Nellie Bennett how important it is to include one another. Each grade had different reactions when an older student walked over to join in on the conversations.  The kindergartners were so excited to just talk to someone new. The first and second graders asked plenty of questions because they were trying to learn everything that they could about high school students. The younger kids contrasted with how the third, fourth and fifth graders talked with the visitors. The older elementary school students were passionate about chatting with new people and about themselves. 

The field trips goal was to educate kids at a young age on the importance of social isolation and its effects.  The couple of hours the high school students got to spend with younger students in the cafeteria will hopefully have a great effect on them by teaching them how important it is to include each other and not leave anyone out. This is a lesson learned in an elementary school cafeteria that will take kids far in life! 

It was overall a very successful trip to the elementary school and hopefully many more schools around the country will begin to implement this within their character education programs.