Denis Esteban was popular in high school. But it wasn’t always that way. So he did something to make sure that others felt included.
In the first grade, Denis Esteban came to America. At that time, he felt incredibly lonely, especially in school.
As time passed, Denis learned how to fit in.
But he never forgot how it felt to be isolated.
Then he got a bright idea. He realized that he could stop other kids from struggling to fit in by starting a club. He formed “We Dine Together.”
The members of We Dine Together started going into his school courtyard and looking out for any kid who was alone. Then they asked if they wanted company.
Thanks to We Dine Together, all the new kids that showed up at the school soon started making friends. In fact, because of Denis’s efforts, his school might just be the happiest school on the planet.
One kid, Gene Max Merridue, even decided to quit the high school football team, and all of its perks, to focus on participating in We Dine Together.
But Denis wasn’t content with fixing loneliness at just his own school. He then looked into opening new chapters of We Dine Together in other schools.
In fact, Denis has done amazing things with We Dine Together.
Since graduating from high school, he has focused on bringing We Dine Together to schools across America and the world.
Posted by We Dine Together onMonday, May 15, 2017
At first, he did this by traveling across America and giving talks at schools, ensuring that the We Dine Together chapters would know how to get off to a solid start.
By August 2018, Denis had managed to successfully open 15 We Dine Together chapters in 15 schools on the West Coast, the East Coast, the Midwest and the South.
Posted by We Dine Together onTuesday, May 28, 2019
And at this time, he had managed to begin the process of opening over 100 more chapters, bringing We Dine Together to every US state.
Then Denis managed to partner We Dine Together with Be Strong, a nonprofit that prevents bullying.
We are stronger together! 🧠⚡with our besties at Best Buddies Florida! #icanbestrong #bestbuddies
Posted by We Dine Together onTuesday, August 21, 2018
It really shows how amazing Denis is. Not only is he using We Dine Together to combat loneliness, but he also realized that if he teamed up with an anti-bullying organization, he could make We Dine Together do even more.
Steve Hartman’s CBS report about We Dine Together has also gone viral.
To date, it has gained over 3.3 million views. It also has more than 61,000 likes and 4,300 comments. One person commented:
“This is really amazing. remembering lunch time even for the first day of jr or high school. It is a crazy hard and very anxious time of the day at school. This right here makes my heart beam!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
So one day, is it possible for all kids to go to schools where they know they will always be able to make friends and be free of bullying?
It may seem impossible, but people like Denis show that there are ways to do this.
And of course, it’s also amazing to think of what Denis has achieved at such a young age. He saw a problem, fixed it in his school, fixed it in other schools and is now on a mission to implement it across the world. What will he do when he gets a little older?
Watch the video below to see more on how We Dine Together got started!
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