Event allows classmates to get to know one another

LYNN – English High School student Jonathan De Azevedo is not someone who would be described as shy, but he said he was prior to attending the school’s Mix It Up Dinners.”That’s the beauty of the Mix It Up,” he said.”It’s hard to believe he was ever shy,” said English senior Nicolette Davis, shaking her head.English High School has been named a Mix It Up Model School for the third year in a row by Teaching Tolerance, a project of the Southern Poverty Law Center, said Peer Mediation Director Ginny Keenan.”Mix It Up Lunch Day is a national movement we decided to have kids who wanted to participate, whose hearts were in the right place, sign up and come to a dinner,” she said.The concept is simple: students come to the dinner and are randomly assigned a seat next to someone they do not know and they get to know them. Keenan said they sat kids at tables of six to keep the groups intimate and each table had ice breaker games to get things started.Davis said it doesn’t take long before even the most different students find a common thread.Alondra Crespo, a senior, said she was scared when she attended her first dinner but friends forced her to go.”That might have been me,” Davis said smiling.Crespo and De Azevedo both said it was worth the risk.It’s not like homecoming or prom; it’s casual with no need to impress, De Azevedo said. He also said it might sound “fake or cliche” but the dinner pushed him outside his comfort zone to the point where being social is no longer outside his comfort zone.”I was very shy and it helped to break that shell,” he said.”Everyone is really welcoming,” Davis added.Keenan said it takes about two months to plan the event, which is held twice a year. The eighth dinner was just held in April and upwards of 200 students attended. It is a far cry from the first dinner that brought only 60 students to the table, Keenan said.”The mission is to reach into different pockets of the school and invite kids to come,” she explained.Senior Erica Perry said approaching some of those groups could also be difficult but it was rewarding to see kids from all areas of the school show up at the event. When asked if the teens were surprised by some of the kids who attended they answered with an unmitigated “yes.”Keenan said she had administrators tell her how impressed they were to see such a diverse group of students at the event.Davis said there is also a noticeable difference in the school following the event. Underclassmen who might have been afraid to speak to upperclassmen in the past are saying hello in the hallways, she said.”You might not become best friends but you build relationships and ? it builds community,” she said, adding that it also makes the hallways less hostile.The dinners build community in a secondary aspect as well because everyone from the Friends of Rachel club, who spearhead the effort, to the Art Department and Theatre Department get involved in the production. Local businesses provide gift cards and donations and the cost to attend is only $3, Keenan said.”I think it helps that the price is really low,” Davis said. “It’s not like it’s $30 for a dance. Everyone can pretty much afford this.”Although Crespo, Davis and Perry will be gone next year, Keenan said there were plenty of underclassmen who worked on the dinner so they’ll be in good shape for next year.”There were so many great ideas, we’ll be fine,” said De Azevedo.”And I’ll be back,” Perry joked.”Watching through the window,” Davis added.