Mix it Up - 2006.

[Michelle Celio]

Originally Posted by Al Skierkiewicz

Michelle,
Let us know how things go. I am on the Diversity Committee at work and we are always looking for new ideas and struggling with the same kinds of issues.

I apologize for the delay in my response, I have had very hectic schedule for the last few days.

The even at my school probably didn't go as well as the administration had planned. Students were given either a yellow, pink, orange or green sticker and once they entered the lunch room they were so posted to sit at the corresponding table with that color.

The problem with my school's cafeteria is that we have round tables and square tables, the round tables were all pink, and they are by themselves, not connected to any other set of table and they only seat four people. People who had pink stickers found their friends with pink stickers and just claimed a table. The rest of the tables are indeed square and aligned in rows, but people would again just find people they knew with the same color sticker and sit near them.

I saw several people trading sticker colors with other students and a couple of students who somehow acquired a set of all four colors. Our school gave us the option of participating. We have indoor and outdoor seating. The color seating only applied to the indoor seating. My friends and I sit outside, and we just over passed the fact that it happened on the inside. We did have a few people who we didn't know sit with us who were trying to avoid the chaos inside of the cafeteria. I guess that counted as "Mixing it up".

I think that if the school would of approached3 the matter in a different way the event would of been more successful.

[Josh Goodman]

Our school participated in mix it up and it was very successful! Different clicks were broken up and met new friends!

[Adam Richards]

My school's Mix It Up day was more or less a failure. Everyone was given a piece of candy during homeroom. That piece of candy told you where you were sitting in the lunch room. During lunch, everyone basically found their friends who had the same candy type they did and sat with them. Everyone was given free pizza and soda/water. After people finished eating, instead of conversing in their new group, they stood up, and started walking around to find their usual friends. The administrators realized they had lost control and basically gave up trying to get us to mix it up.

[Schnabel]

My school is doing something like this, only we are having the people come in that were on Oprah's Challenge Day. I really hope that this goes well as I can see a big division within my school. Also, sorry to hear that your day was not that great of success Adam!

We tried this, sort of, but slightly different. I notice it doesn't work when the admins force it upon people. If it's a choice, then it's great.

[Protronie]

Back in my day the school wasn't worried about mixing us up... its sad to see that even all these years later...and after what has happen in schools. That cliques are still around. Of course today I guess they would be called gangs, posies ect...
Mix it up is a great idea. But as one of the posters state , forcing it on the students isn't going to work.
Congrats to the young folks that tried it... good luck to those that are thinking of or going to be giving it a try. Learn from the lessons here.