Come socialize and meet new people by sitting at tables marked with your birthday month on Tuesday, Nov. 10. Mix It Up Day is a national event that will be held during all three lunches.

The idea for Mix It Up Day was developed by the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Teaching Tolerance program. The first Mix It Up day was held November 21, 2002, and thousands of students in more than 3,000 schools participated.

Cougars United sponsor Jamie Ledbetter found the idea while searching online for ways to promote unity and to get students to step outside their groups of friends to meet new people.

She stumbled upon the Southern Poverty Law Center, www.splcenter.org, an organization that speaks out against racism and promotes racial equality and tolerance. Ledbetter thinks that the lines drawn between each group at school are very visible, so she decided to bring the idea to Cougars United. She thought that this would be a great way for students to meet new people.

“You see it all through the day, but you see it mostly at lunch because the kids get to choose where they want to be and who they socialize with,” Ledbetter said.

On Mix It Up Day, certain tables will be marked with a month. Students will be encouraged to sit at the table of their birth month and socialize with the other students that sit there. This way, students get to meet new people and step outside their own friendship circles. Students who attended Trailridge Middle School have participated in Mix It Up Day.

“I thought it was a good way to meet new people that you wouldn’t otherwise talk to or socialize with,” sophomore Kaycee Greenwood said.