Mixing things up | GreeleyTribune.com

Mixing things up

Julio Ochoa

Instead of leaving Greeley West High School’s campus with friends for lunch Tuesday, senior Andrea Talley decided to step out of her comfort zone and take part in a social experiment.

The experiment put Talley, 18, at a lunch table full of unfamiliar faces, most of them freshmen.

During the 55-minute lunch period, Talley met several new people who won’t be strangers in the hallway anymore.

“In a school this size, everyone blends together unless you know them,” Talley said. “This helps you pick people out of a crowd.”

The event that made the introductions possible was part of a national campaign called Mix it Up Day, which attempts to break down social cliques in high schools and build tolerance.

Tables in the lunch room were numbered from one to 31 for each day in a month. Students and teachers who participated in the event were asked to sit at the table that corresponded with the day of the month that they were born.

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On any other day, the cafeteria usually divides itself into three main sections based on ethnicity, said Tammy Segura, a 17-year-old senior and one of the organizers of the event.

Mexican nationals usually sit on one side, Anglos sit in the middle and Latinos, or Mexican Americans, sit on the other side, she said.

“I think that is our biggest issue here and that’s why we try to do things like this,” Segura said.

At Tuesday’s event, the ethnic barriers seemed nonexistent. Each table had a mix of students who broke the ice by discussing questions provided by organizers.

Cristina Duran and Pamela Sanchez sat at a table with three teachers and two other students.

They learned a little something about each other by answering questions, such as: If money was no object, where would you travel?

The teachers, who normally don’t eat with students, said they benefited from hanging out in a social situation.

“We usually don’t get to know other things about them,” said Carrie Lowenbach, a coordinator for the Gear Up program at Greeley West.

Organizers could tell the event was working from the noise level in the cafeteria. Voices, which normally are loud with students trying to shout over each other, were much lower, indicating that most students were engaged in conversations where one was talking and others were listening.

“High school should be considered a journey and part of that journey is being able to learn and work with and know and understand other people,” said John Haefeli, a teacher and one of the organizers. “If they meet one person that they didn’t know prior and make a connection, then this day has been successful.”

At Talley’s table, freshman Alyssa Martinez was already thinking of the advantages of knowing a few more upperclassmen.

“Having a senior friend is good when you need a ride home,” she joked. On a more serious note, she added: “There are other people out there besides your own group. It’s better to have a lot of friends.”