A Tulsa school ' mixes it up' for a day

High school can be hard enough with exams, after school jobs and applying for college without worrying about being in the "in" group. <br/><br/>One Tulsa area school hopes that by "mixing up" lunch, it

Tuesday, November 16th 2004, 10:18 am

By: News On 6

High school can be hard enough with exams, after school jobs and applying for college without worrying about being in the "in" group.

One Tulsa area school hopes that by "mixing up" lunch, it can help break up cliques. News on 6 anchor Scott Thompson explains how it works.

7,000 schools across the country participated in "National Mix It Up Day" Tuesday. The News on 6 caught up with students at Union's Intermediate High School. The school rearranged the kids' lunch schedules so they'd be eating with people they don't normally hang out with.

30 students from the Union Leadership Class passed out pieces of paper during lunch, hoping the kids would fill them out with the name of five new friends. Local vendors donated prizes to get more kids to participate.

Organizers were surprised how eager they were to help. Union teacher Carol Burgess: "It's unreal how easy it was to go to the community and say, 'we're going to do this. We're going to try it. It's our first year to try it; we don't know how it's going to work out, but will you help us with it?' And they did."