Mix It Up Day at Southern encourages interaction


By Olivia Ruffin
Staff Writer, the Spartan Scoop
Southern High School

Ms.Donahue and her entire AP English 4 class were responsible for advertising Mix It up Day. Mix It up Day seeks to break down the barriers between students and improve intergroup relations so there are fewer misunderstand­ings that can lead to conflicts, bul­lying and harassment.

Southern students "mix it up" during lunch. (Photo courtesy of the Spartan Scoop)

Mix It up Day is designed to teach students tolerance of people who are unlike themselves. Most schools hold Mix It up Day on Nov. 9, but many schools hold several Mix It up Days through out the school year. Mix It up Day, took place at Southern for the first time, on November 9, 2010 in all three lunches.

“I was in the class that started it. To make it, we started like a month or two earlier and we basi­cally made posters and stuff like that,” Mario Daye said, one of Ms. Donahue’s AP English 4 stu­dents. “First lunch is the second biggest lunch we have, so it was a pretty good amount of people. Everybody was participating, ev­erybody held hands and circled around the cafeteria, people were chanting “mix it up, mix it up” and cheering and everything,” Daye said.

“Oh yeah,” Donahue said. “I liked the outcome, it was great! Students got to meet students they wouldn’t normally meet or talk to.”

For some facilitators, mixing it up has extended beyond Novem­ber 9.

“Me [Mario Daye], Ashley Poole, Christian Schmidt, Hilario, and Akila G. all went to the EC classrooms for lunch [3rd lunch]. We sat down, talked to them about the situation in the cafete­ria and how people treated them. That day we made a promise to them that we would come down and have lunch with them,” Daye said.

“We did that this past Monday. They had a fun time, and it went quicker than expected. They’re really cool people and I feel like others overlook them,” Daye said.

Although the facilitators were successful in first and second lunches, during third lunch par­ticipants were more hesitant.

“In my lunch (3rd lunch), no­body was really trying to do it,” Rickelle Mitchell said, a junior who participated in Mix It up Day. “I went up to a few people and I said hi my name is Rick­elle! But people were just looking at me like what are you doing?” Mitchell said.

Senior Michael Branch ex­plained that some students par­ticipated for candy. “I was trying to see who was actually going to participate.”

“Mario gave me some candy. That’s why I did Mix It Up Day,” senior Tykim Davis said.