Reflection+Project

//** My project, was a day that we have been celebrating just about every year in our school now; called Mix-It-Up Day. Mix. is really just students coming together as well as teachers and staff to interact with others in a diverse way. When most students step into the cafeteria they sit down right away with kids that they are usually with every day. If it isn't that then its an all white group or an all black group. There are students who sit with others outside their race, but what do we do about the ones that aren't really with it. The goal of Mix it up day was to give students an opportunity to not just sit with different people; but interact with them as well and get to know them for who they truly are. Most of my goals were achieved in getting the students to realize that we are striving to become as diverse as possible. All the planning was very easy, and went real smooth as to getting things organized and set up. We had to overcome the issue that some students weren't taking it that seriously. When I noticed kids werent participating, I asked them questions as to why not? Students don't understand that this could really benefit them in a the long run, if they want to become successful out of school. Our method was to hand out different colored swatches to all the students coming in the cafe. Once they received those they would have to go to that table with the assigned colored swatch as to the one they previously received. Mostly, every student had their swatch, so that made me feel like i acheieved something at least. **//

//** Overall, I think Mix It Up day did achieve in a way, because students were noticing that we were expressing diversity. Our school isn't really an all one race school; we generally do mix things up day by day with one another. However, I do believe things can improve over the years to come and there should definitely be other ways to getting the kids to interact. I already knew a lot of information on my topic because I am in the group FBLA and STOP at school, which is Future Business Leaders of America. Stop is students coming together opposing prejudice. This also wasn't my first time dealing with this event, so I was already sure how to run it, and kind of what to expect. =) I just hope there is better luck next time. I learned from this experience that it is hard to take people away from environments that they are so use to. Even if some students aren't racial to others, they still might only feel comfortable around people of their own kind. However, it is still a big deal to express how important it is for students to learn about diversity in schools. I believe there will be a stronger affect on kids, if they get adapted to this at a young age as well, and not wait until they are already out of High School to start wanting to become diverse. **//