Every lunch period most students sidle into the cafeteria, purchase a meal from the lunch line, and sit down at the exact same table. Each lunch is unvarying, students are eating the same lunch next to the same people.
Today, that’s all going to change. Mix it Up Day is being sponsored at AHS by the Peer Mediation Class. “Mix it Up Day is a national event where we try to get students to go beyod their comfort zone and meet new people,” Peer Mediation teacher Kate Mounteer said.
For Mix it Up Day, students are encouraged to leave their normal seat, and go sit in a different part of the cafeteria during lunchtime. It is being held during all lunch periods, and is a great oppportunity to meet new people.
Mix it Up Day was created by the Southern Poverty Law Center, which is a nonprofit organization notable for its tolerance education programs such as Teaching Tolerance. Teaching Tolerance supports the endeavors of K-12 teachers and educators to encourage respect, tolerance, and appreciation of diversity.
According to Teaching Tolerance, students thrive in schools that are inclusive, but for many schools are full of exclusion. The goal of Mix It Up day is to break down barriers between students and improve intergroup relations to decrease conflicts, bullying, and harassment.
“Mix It Up day was started when there was a lot of racial divide,” Mounteer said.
Mix It Up day at AHS is seen as an opportunity to students to make friends. “It would be beneficial if people actually participate in Mix It Up Day because high school isn’t all academics. We can build relationships with people, and you can build these relationships by sitting with new people,” Junior Victoria Ko said.
Peer Mediation has been preparing for Mix It Up day for a while now. “It’s a project, we’re staffing the event. We tried a mix it up class, and they had a great time. We’ve made t-shirts, banners, and hope to decorate the cafeteria,” Mounteer said.
Mix It Up day does not have to be as scary as it might sound. Peer Mediation does not plan to just let students wander free-for-all around the cafeteria to sit with strangers. “We want to have stickers and colored tables, and tell students to go to a [table] with a different color,” Mounteer said.
While Mounteer and her classes are looking forward to lunch, many students do not know very much about Mix It Up day. Others have heard of it, but do not believe that it will be very successful. “Not many people will participate in Mix It Up Day. It would be awkward to sit with people [they] don’t know,” Sophomore Jiyeong Park said.
Others do not plan on participating because they do not want to go beyond their boundaries. “I sit with the same people every lunch. I don’t think I’ll participate in Mix It Up day ‘cause I’m ust used to sitting with my friends,” Park said.
Mounteer acknowledges that students find it difficult to move around during lunch, but Mix It Up day is not all about just moving around in the cafeteria. “It builds more school spirit, friendship, and a more peaceful attitude. The cafeteria is full of people [and] they want to sit with the group they’re comfortable with,” Mounteer said.
“It’s challenging because [the cafeteria] is so crowded and lunch is so short,” Mounteer said.
So today during lunch, instead of sitting down at your usual table, go find a group of people who you do not talk to and sit down. Some people rarely go out of their social groups, and lunch today is the perfect excuse to do so. “You got to meet new people, those who don’t normally socialize together will,” Junior Arish Ali said.
“You don’t have to do it alone, take a friend and go to a part of the cafeteria where you don’t normally go, and sit down,” Mounteer said.
