Thirteenth annual national Mix It Up at Lunch Day a success
News reports from across the country showed that plenty of students took time to meet someone new.
An estimated 1 million students across the country stepped out of their cliques and challenged stereotypes on Oct. 28 as part of听national Mix It Up at Lunch Day听鈥� an event designed to foster respect among students by asking them to sit with someone new at lunch for just one day.
News reports from across the country showed that plenty of students took time to meet someone new.
鈥淲e鈥檙e a very diverse school,鈥� Daniela Michanie, a senior who helped organize the event at Dr. Michael Krop High School听in Miami, told . 鈥淏ut what happens is, there鈥檚 a lot of self-segregation. People drift into the groups they think they鈥檙e supposed to be in.鈥�
At Tioughnioga Riverside Academy听in Whitney Point, New York, students participated in their first Mix It Up event.
鈥淲e want everybody to feel included and feel they have friends to talk to and be with,鈥� sixth-grader Ada Roe told . 鈥淲e don鈥檛 want anyone to feel lonely.鈥�
Seventh-grader Liam Lynch praised the event when the newspaper reporter asked him about it.
鈥淸I]t鈥檚 cool to sit with people you wouldn鈥檛 normally sit with,鈥� he said.
Cafeterias are the focus of the program because that鈥檚 where a school鈥檚 social boundaries are most obvious. But many schools plan similar barrier-breaking activities outside the lunchroom. Some schools use the event to kick off yearlong听explorations听of social divisions. Each school sets its own agenda, makes its own plans and chooses its own theme for Mix It Up. Schools are encouraged to听register听their event.
A school can host a Mix It Up event any time of the year. Students at Davison Avenue Intermediate School in Lynbrook, New York, celebrated Mix It Up a few days earlier, but still got to know their fellow students better.
鈥淪tudents said they had learned things about their classmates they never knew and some spoke to students they had never spoken to before,鈥� said Eileen Duffy Traslavina, the school鈥檚 social worker. 鈥淎ll the students thought it was fun.鈥�
Scroll through the social media activity around #MixLunch below!
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The program, launched by the Southern Poverty Law Center鈥檚 Teaching Tolerance project in 2002, is designed to help educators create schools where students see each other as individuals 鈥� not just members of separate groups. Breaking down these barriers can help reduce bullying and create a school that is safe and welcoming for all students.
