Have you ever felt alone or too shy to come up to someone and make a connection?
A program partnering with the Miami Dolphins is working to make students more comfortable with making friends. It’s a national initiative called No One Eats Alone.
Beyond Differences held events at around 100 Miami-Dade schools to raise awareness of an important cause: social isolation. It’s the feeling of not having a strong connection with people around you and feeling alone.
“What we're trying to do is trying to stop it from getting progressively worse, and we tend to get to know each other better and like be friendly,” said Gaby Enriquez, a 7th grader at Madison Middle School.
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It’s something that might sound simple, but many have experienced it — including Dolphins quarterback Skylar Thompson.
At the event, he shared his story with hundreds of middle schoolers, including losing both his mother and grandfather at a young age to cancer.
“I've always just believed, like, it's important to make yourself vulnerable, you know, and pull yourself out there,” he told NBC 6. “We as professional athletes as a whole have to understand how many people truly are looking up to us and watching our every move and how we handle ourselves and what we're what we're dealing with.”
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DJ Tight and the Miami Dolphin Cheerleaders also spoke to students and reminded them to always be kind to each other.
Alba Alvarado with Beyond Differences explained the meaning behind No One Eats Alone Day, celebrated nationwide on Feb. 17.
“We want each and every student to feel like their authentic selves and make connections with each other,” she said. “They feel supported and safe and want to come to school and have a good time.”
