What Is Mix It Up at Lunch Day?

A national campaign launched by Teaching Tolerance in 2002, Mix It Up at Lunch Day encourages students to identify, question and cross social boundaries. And we ask schools to participate on the last Tuesday in October each school year!

“Mix It Up is a positive step that schools can take to help create learning environments where students see each other as individuals and not just as members of a separate group,” said Teaching Tolerance Director Maureen Costello. “When people step out of their cliques and get to know someone, they realize just how much they have in common.”

We really wanted our students to step out of their comfort zones, cross social barriers, meet new people, & make new friends. We collaborated with Link Leaders from Atwater High School to come and help facilitate group activities which promoted teamwork and getting to know one another.

The event, launched by the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Teaching Tolerance project in 2002, encourages students to sit with someone new in the cafeteria for just one day. Cafeterias are the focus of Mix It Up because that’s where a school’s social boundaries are most obvious. Many schools plan similar barrier-busting activities throughout the day. Some use the event to kick off yearlong explorations of social divisions.

Here is some data on what students had to say about Mix-it-Up: