MERIDIAN TOWNSHIP - The lunchroom, a place where kids come to eat and relax before continuing with their day. However, some tables have different rules.

"There are two tables in our lunchroom that are marked with yellow exes," said Wendy Gregg, a lunchroom employee at Williamston Community Schools. "Those are our allergy tables. We are made aware of what their allergies are, and what the accommodations are in case of an allergic reaction."

One major component to managing an allergy, is knowing what food exactly to avoid. But preventing a reaction involves much more.

"At school, one of the bigger things to worry about is are you sharing food with your friends," said Dr. Manoj Mohan, an allergist. "We have to be very cautious in that situation, because we don't know what the other food may contain."

Coping with an allergy can have a learning curve. Rachel Hoffman has had various food allergies her whole life. She offered some advice for making the table with special cleaning supplies, and yellow exes, more inclusive.

"Make it fun for your friends too. Bring things you can share with them," said Rachel. "I know not being able to eat certain foods you'll be like kind of upset because your friends will all be enjoying this awesome thing, and they love it. But yeah, just bring in a variation that you can eat."