Chapter 6: Personal Stories
Below you will find a compilation of anonymous high school success stories. These have been provided to show that going to high school with food allergies is very possible. All of the stories are different and address different problems students with food allergies may have while in high school. If you are currently a student in high school or have graduated and you have a personal story, we would love to add it to our page! Click here for directions on how to submit your personal story.
Being Bullied
I was never bullied until I got to high school. In middle school and elementary school, I had lots of friends. No one really cared about my allergies before high school. It was the 3rd day of high school and I remember walking up to my locker to put my books away for lunch. When I got to my locker, there was a sign taped on my locker that said "We are not a peanut friendly school," and there was peanut butter smeared all over my locker. I was so scared. I went to the principal's office and they had my locker cleaned and the note removed. They never found out who did it, but it never happened again. I was scared for my entire freshman year it would happen again and I am glad it didn't. Luckily, I found friends who didn't care about my allergies. Now I am a sophomore and I feel very safe at school and happy.
If I had one piece of advice for people with food allergies who are being bullied, it would be to get help immediately. Food allergies aren't a joke and bullying can be deadly.
If I had one piece of advice for people with food allergies who are being bullied, it would be to get help immediately. Food allergies aren't a joke and bullying can be deadly.
Starting A food Allergy club At My School
I go to a Jewish day school and food allergies seem to be very prevalent in my school. In my school of 500 kids, there are 70 of us with food allergies. I decided to make a club that would not only be a support group for kids with food allergies, but a way to help raise awareness of our teachers and peers. I am a junior now and the club has been running for 2 years. We celebrate food allergy awareness week, host an allergy friendly shabbat, hold biweekly support group meetings and sell allergy friendly bake sale goodies. In my experience, starting a club has been beneficial for the entire school community and I highly recommend you start one too!
Playing High School Sports With Food allergies
I have been playing soccer and baseball on my school team since freshman year (I'm a senior now). When I came onto the soccer team during freshman year, I found a family of guys who I learned would always have my back. I think for me, joining sports teams gave me a sense of belonging that sometimes having food allergies make me loose. I did have one time during baseball season where my team was eating sunflower seeds (I have anaphylactic allergies to nuts and seeds) and I accidentally drank out of a team mates identical water bottle instead of my own. I had an anaphylactic reaction on the bench and luckily my coaches helped me out. I have learned to be a lot more careful though and now have a blue water bottle instead of a green gatorade one.
My advice to people with food allergies is not to be afraid to play high school sports! They are really fun and help you create an awesome family!
My advice to people with food allergies is not to be afraid to play high school sports! They are really fun and help you create an awesome family!