Danvers High mixes it up to mixed reviews

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November 14, 2007

Ethan Forman The Salem News Wed Nov 14, 2007, 12:40 AM EST

DANVERS | Students at Danvers High School got mixed up yesterday.

No, they were not confused in class; rather, students ate lunch in the cafeteria while sitting at tables according to their birthdays, not with their usual friends or cliques.

The lunch scramble was part of Mix It Up at Lunch Day, an attempt to break the ice of social groups like jocks, drama club students and others, in a move to improve the school's climate.

The more than 1,000 students at Danvers High were not the only ones mixing it up yesterday. Nationwide, an estimated 4 million students took part in the sixth annual Mix It Up at Lunch Day program, a project of the Southern Poverty Law Center, a Montgomery, Ala., civil rights organization known for its tolerance-education programs.

"For kids who are not part of a clique, it's an incredibly overwhelming experience to sit in that cafeteria," said history teacher Jackie White, who heads up community service learning at the school.

"They get a little more exposure to kids they don't sit with everyday," said Vice Principal Mark Strout, who watched over lunch.

Students gave mixed reviews of the mixer.

"It's not a bad idea, I guess," said sophomore Christian Russo, who sat next to Matt Garra and Matt LaFleur, kids he said are not his everyday friends.

"I think it brings variety to Danvers High School," said Christian's classmate Matt Arias, who sat nearby.

"It's a good way to meet new people in high school," said Kaitlyn Carroll, a freshman who sat with Casey Haskell, Samantha Hubbard and Meagan Glenn at another table at a later lunch.

Kaitlyn was soon joined by friend Chelsey McMahon, who said the program doesn't make sense to her.

"Because only a few people are going to sit at the different tables, and it's just weird," Chelsey said.

"Sometimes it works," Samantha chimed in.

"Depends on the individual," Meagan said.

White said some students came up with the idea of breaking through the cliques by taking part in the Mix It Up at Lunch Day.

"One of the problems the students identified was the school was too 'cliquey,'" White said. "We don't have a very diverse student body. It was more to be more tolerant of different student groups."

Seniors Justin Enos, Sean Hurley, Derek Joyce and Jenna LeClair, the president of the school's "diversity team," advertised the event yesterday by putting up posters, making announcements and passing out fliers, White said.

Last year, when the school first mixed it up at lunch, about 25 percent of students sat with someone new. White's goal this year is to have a third of the students sit next to someone new, though the proportion that took part yesterday was not available at press time.

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Danvers High mixes it up to mixed reviews

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