Teens encouraged to spend time with someone new for lunch

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- It's easy to stay in your "clique" when you're a middle school student. One Fresno Unified School is hoping to break up those groups by taking part in a nationwide event.

Roughly 50 kids at Wawona Middle School spent their lunch breaks singing, laughing and learning new things about fellow students they haven't even met before.

Karen Carrillo, an 8th grade student, said, "I think it's a nice event because I just met two new people I don't usually hang out with."

For the 12th year in a row, Wawona Middle School held its annual "Mix it Up at Lunch," a half hour event that seats students with ones they don't normally hang out with.

Principal Carlos Castillo says just a little bit of time getting to know someone you normally wouldn't make the effort to, can go a long way to prevent bullying, which can be common in middle school.

Carlos Castillo said, "I think when kids know each other very well they're less apt to bully each other, to be mean to each other, to discriminate against each other and those things do happen but it usually happens because of ignorance."

The students voluntarily sign up for the "Mix it Up" lunch. Many were happy with the outcome. It's easy for kids to stay in their own, comfortable group of friends but the event forced them to branch out.

Marcelino Vitolas, an 8th grader at Wawona, said, "I learned to get along with other people better because they kind of just put us on random tables."

Eighth grader Emily Brooks added, "We shared what our name means and how we got our name."

Wawona Midle School isn't the only school participating. More than one million schools nationwide take part in the "Mix it Up" campaign, encouraging kindness in students and learning about different backgrounds.

Castillo explained, "People from maybe different ages, different races, different genders so they can really get to know each other and realize how special diversity is."

Wawona Middle School says this year's "Mix It Up" lunch was so successful that officials hope to expand the event to every student at the school next year.