Students 'mix it up' at lunch to promote inclusion

Kalispell Middle School “Team Tenacity” mixed things up a little at lunch on Thursday.

The team of 125 eighth graders represents just one of many teams that make up the entire school population.

With a large number of students in one team alone, there are a lot of people students can get to know. But it’s inevitable that cliques, or tightly-knit groups of friends form, and as the years progress, it may become difficult to get out of that comfort zone and get to know new people.

Members of My Voice — a student group similar to that of a student council — wanted to change that. Eighth-grade My Voice members, and friends, Payton Juelfs and Skyleigh Thompson thought it was a good time to hold the first “Mix it Up” event targeting the lunchroom after noticing that students were either excluded, seemed shy, or sat with the same people every day.

“Inside our school everyone kind of has their set place where they sit,” Thompson said. “Most kids have their group of friends and not very much outside of it. We want to make it so everybody knows everyone, and everyone is at least acquaintances.”

Thompson said when she started sixth grade she didn’t have many friends and it took time to branch out, but she did it and now wants to help others do the same.

During Thursday’s lunch Team Tenacity split up into five classrooms to eat and get to know each other through student-led games.

“We’re starting small within our team right now, but we want to give it a chance for kids who maybe don’t know other people, or for kids who are more on the shy side, for a chance to get out of their box and meet new people,” Thompson said.

The goal of the Mix it Up event is that students come out knowing something new about someone, making a new friend or just feeling more confident.

Juelfs and Thompson would like the event to encompass the entire eighth grade by the end of the year.

Walking through an upstairs hallway, Juelfs and Thompson parted ways to different classrooms for the Mix it Up lunch foreshadowing next year when they will attend different high schools.

“I know we’re going to get split up in high school too, so it’s important to have other friends and reach out,” Juelfs said.

In English teacher Alex Cumming’s classroom Juelfs took a seat in one of two circles of desks where eighth-grader Ezra Epperly, a My Voice member, was leading an ice breaker. The atmosphere was noisy and lively. Epperly asked questions such as, “what is your favorite book, TV show, movie” to “who is in your family.”

Some of the questions and answers sparked more conversation between students sitting near each other, and sometimes not.

“The students wanted to get to know each other on our team — team bonding was huge,” Cummings said.

Cummings said the program gives students “a really good platform to have a say in their school,” and plan events like the Mix it Up day. The program is run in grades sixth through eighth and each team has representatives.

“You get together once a week and you plan different events to help your school out, help your community,”Juelfs said. “Everyone has an equal part, an equal say.”

It is operated differently from a traditional student council in that members are not elected by popular vote.

“The My Voice reps aren’t picked off a student vote. They are either picked by teachers or drawn out of a hat for people that want to participate,” Thompson said.

Juelfs added, “You’ll notice a lot at My Voice meeting everyone speaks up and everyone has an idea.”

Hilary Matheson is a reporter for The Daily Inter Lake. She may be reached at 758-4431 or hmatheson@dailyinterlake.com.