Buoyed by the success of an experiment she conducted at Redondo Union High School’s cafeteria last week, 18-year-old Alex Nelson is energized in her quest to beat bullying and break down social barriers.
Nelson, who volunteers with Alabama-based civil rights organization Southern Poverty Law Center, coordinated a lunchtime event at the high school last Friday, which forced students to sit next to other students with whom they wouldn’t normally socialize.
To facilitate conversation, Nelson planted paper bags containing questions like – “Who is your idol?” “What’s your favorite vacation spot?” “What’s your favorite food?” “If you won a million dollars what would you do?” – in the center of each table.
And while several students refused to participate, exiting the cafeteria as promptly as they entered, there were still a dozen tables full of students getting to know each other.
“I think it’s fun,” junior Aribell Santana said. “You get to know new stuff about people you didn’t know before. I don’t think everyone is courageous enough to talk to new people on their own, but this is good because it gets people out of their shells. Because others are doing it, they’re more comfortable exploring and meeting other people.”
Agreed sophomore Victor Eatel: “You can make new friends easily doing this. I probably would have just stayed with my normal group if this wasn’t happening.”
Sophomore Dakota Paine said she’d like to see Mix It Up At Lunch, which is a nationwide campaign, occur earlier in the school year.
“It’s good to get used to what it’s like in the real world when we’ll all have jobs and everything,” she said. “I think this would be good to do at the beginning of the year to meet new people.”
Freshman Josh Arrow said he was having “a lot of fun.”
“I’m normally a little shy, but with this you get together with new people and it’s good to have new opportunities like that,” he said.
And sophomore Elise Allison said Mix It Up At Lunch made it easier to break the ice with strangers.
“A lot of people are shy or scared that they’ll be judged by new people,” she said. “But I like this because so many people go to school here and even though I see all of them I don’t really know who they are.”
Nelson said “the turnout was better than she could have hoped” and that a lot of students “seemed really into it.”
She hopes to introduce the concept of Mix It Up At Lunch to other schools in the area and to bring it back to Redondo Union next year.
