Existing Project
We Dine Together
Shaylee Cooper
Oregon
We Dine Together is a completely student-led movement that started in Florida and is now worldwide with the goal to have no one sitting alone during lunch. At Oregon City High School, the Shaylee and the We Dine Together group have a designated room that is open every day for students to eat their lunch, play games, and meet new people. They also have meetings to share meals and hear speakers. They will use the funds to plan outings outside of the school setting to create meaningful connections.
Updates from Shaylee
July, 2019
My name is Shaylee Cooper and I am a Senior at Oregon City High School. Officer Plummer who works at the Oregon City Police Department along with my Vice Principal and I brought “We Dine Together” at my school. “We Dine Together” is a completely student-led movement where I make it a priority to create a positive social atmosphere on our campus. For new incoming students, the club is a welcoming committee. To others, “We Dine Together” can be a safe haven or space where they can be themselves without the fear of rejection. For the school, “We Dine Together” is a catalyst for real social change. The goal of this program is no one sits alone during lunch. We started “WDT” in April of 2018 school year. We have a designated room at the school where it’s open every day for kids to go in there. Every other Tuesday, we have a meeting where we eat a meal together. If you share a meal together you can learn a lot about each other. We also have a group game planned and have speakers come and talk about ways we can become a more welcoming school. The number of people per meeting is growing a lot, which makes me happy and the impact is amazing. People who used to sit alone in the hall are eating with people and making new friendships. My goal with the money Riley’s Way Foundation gave us is to do random acts of kindness around the school.