Successful Mix-It-Up day creates new tradition

On+March+24%2C+participants+took+part+in+the+first+Mix-It-Up+lunch.+Participants+had+to+stay+in+the+Mix-It-Up+area+and+put+a+sticker+on+the+map.+

Photo by Candace Fikis

On March 24, participants took part in the first Mix-It-Up lunch. Participants had to stay in the Mix-It-Up area and put a sticker on the map.

By Mayeli Vivaldo, Editor in Chief

After the success of the first Mix-It-Up lunch event, Student Council, ROAR, and Principal Moses Cheng plan on continuing this new tradition.

The Mix-It-Up lunch occurred on March 24 during lunch periods. Students had to stay in the Mix-It-Up section and place a sticker on a map of the world on where they are from.

“The first lunch or two, people were hesitant, weren’t quite sure what to do, but then it started to spread a little bit more by the later lunches. I think that was a good start,” Student Council adviser Candace Fikis said. “The best conversations came from the map. I found that to be the most interesting conversations. There were quite a few international students and I heard a couple of students say, ‘I didn’t know you weren’t born in the United States.’”

The event was created to encourage students to embrace diversity and create new friendships.

“I think it was a great first opportunity to really show students what WeGo is all about. WeGo is all about creating a community of compassion and empathy and really breaking away from social groups that they’re so comfortable with. They saw who else was out there,” ROAR adviser Jennifer Culbertson said.

The groups plan on doing more Mix-It-Up lunches possibly this year, but definitely in the next school year.

“We would like to do it in the fall. We were talking to Student Council about possibly doing it in October only because then you hope you make friends for the rest of the year. If we do it again, hopefully, people won’t be shy or afraid to try it out,” Fikis said. “I would like to see more and more participation next time.”

Student Council plans on partnering and interacting with ROAR for the upcoming Mix-It-Up lunches to get some help with promoting the event.

“If we do a ROAR in the fall, we could do it (Mix-It-Up day) around the same time, and we could use them as a way to advertise the event to those groups of students who were able to be part of ROAR,” Fikis said.

According to Fikis and Culbertson, some changes might be made for future Mix-It-Up days, but the changes are still unclear.