BATESBURG-LEESVILLE, S.C. — Batesburg-Leesville High School students are using this week to help create new friendships and make sure no one is ever alone.
High school is an important time in a teen's life. From studying for tests to figuring out what to do with their future, meeting new people can add a lot of stress.
Carley Muilenburg, a senior at the high school, knows how important it is to make new friends. She was home-schooled until she enrolled at Batesburg-Leesville High School her sophomore year.
"When I first came here, I didn't talk to anybody. I didn't want to socialize with people because it was almost off-putting to me," Gordon said.
Muilenburg believes it's important for everyone to know someone is looking out for them.
"People may not have those people who are there for them every day, to say hello to them, to make sure they're doing good, to make sure that someone cares about them," Muilenburg said.
Caitlin Gordon, the director of school counseling, has been at the high school for the past two years. She said the student body wanted to do something to make sure everyone felt included.
"This week we are participating in the "Start With Hello" week, which is part of the national campaign that the Sandy Hook Promise organization initiated," said Gordon.
The organization's website says the week, "teaches students to make a difference with their peers in a simple, fun, and impactful way. They take small but powerful actions to promote connectedness and inclusion, and to identify and help lonely students who are showing signs of social isolation."
Students have participated in activities throughout the week to help introduce themselves to someone they haven't met before in the hallways. It's not something required that the teens take part, but there's been a lot of participation.
Students have used icebreakers to help introduce themselves to new peers and have done nice things for others. Some have written notes to other classmates. They also had a photo booth for student to take pictures with their new friends.
"What we decided this week was to have as many activities as possible to create kindness, community-building, inclusivity, and combat overall social isolation is the biggest point of that," Gordon said.
Although the school considers itself a tight-knit community, they know there are always opportunities to make new friends. You never know what someone is going through and if they're in need of someone to talk to.
"It's super important, especially in today's day and time. Students go through a lot of stressers, a lot of anxiety," Gordon explained. "We just felt it was really important to do that so everyone had a closer bond."
Muilenburg is happy to have the opportunity to make new friends this week and continue to grow and make new ones in the future.
"I hope that everybody feels like they're not alone. I hope that they feel welcome and that they can talk to anybody and they don't have to be in their little shell," said Muilenburg. "They can come out and just meet new people because we are all family here. This is the Panther family and you just become part of the family. Embrace being part of the family."
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