Archer Students Find New Friends after Switching Seats at Lunchtime

FREEPORT, N.Y., Nov. 26, 2007
Barbara Behrens/Felicia Febrizio

The faces at Archer’s lunch tables changed recently as students rearranged their seats in recognition of  Mix It Up at Lunch Day, a nationwide event designed to break down social barriers and foster understanding of others.

The movement was initiated by the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Teaching Tolerance program six years ago after recognizing that lunchtime seating in schools across the country often creates boundaries — both visible and invisible — for reasons such as habit, friendship, status, fear and prejudice.

Teachers at Archer “mixed it up” by assigning students a random table number. This encouraged them to step out of their comfort zones and sit somewhere new, with someone new, according to Elizabeth Biscotti, a social worker at Archer who helped organize the event with school psychologist Lisette Santiago.

“This event was a way for students to make new friends,” Biscotti said.  “The students and staff really enjoyed this opportunity to mix it up and have fun.”

This event kicked off the school’s Character Trait of the Month program in which each month a new character trait is highlighted and recognized for positive behaviors.

Freeport Public Schools is a diverse, innovative district on Long Island’s South Shore serving about 6,750 students in grades Pre-K through 12. The district and its eight schools take pride in having the region’s only magnet schools of choice, a longstanding and award-winning classroom English/Spanish Dual Language

Program, and a high school where students excel in competitions that include the regional Academic Challenge, Odyssey of the Mind and Future Problem Solving International. The district’s New Visions School of Exploration and Discovery has been named a National Blue Ribbon School by the U.S. Department of Education for its high student performance and engaging curriculum.