SPANISH FORK — Three Nebo District junior highs mixed it up Tuesday in the name of diversity and tolerance.

Mount Nebo Junior High, Payson Junior High and Diamond Fork Junior High participated in Mix It Up at Lunch Day with assemblies, dances and opportunities to mingle with students not in their usual peer group.

Mount Nebo counselor Courtney Olsen organized the event with performances by the Step Queens from Brigham Young University, who wore Black Student Union jerseys; a group of six Latin dancers; Native American dancers; and a performance by professional Indian dancer Suba-lakshmi Sriram.

The program ended with three Polynesian dancers from Utah Valley State College's Legacy Group.

The event brought people of different colors together, said Mixtli Martinez, a student Latin dancer. "It's exciting," she said.

"The idea of diversity can be destructive and divisive," said teacher Ian Black. "But instead, people can pull together and be creative. We label and hyphenate too many people. We can't get rid of (racism) until we stop."

A naturalized citizen from New Zealand, Black said some foreign-born students "soak up (American culture) like a blotter, while others resist."

During lunch each student's hand was marked with a color. The students were to find others with the same color and mingle with them.

Mix It Up at Lunch Day is about inclusion and making new friends, said Diamond Fork Junior High counseling secretary Susan Hatch.

Students were randomly given a colored sticker to put on the back of their hand. During school lunch the students were to sit at a table where the colors matched.

That put students with others they don't normally associate with, Hatch said. About 450 students have lunch together during the two lunch periods.

The Southern Poverty Law Center in Montgomery, Ala., established Mix It Up at Lunch Day in 2002. It has since grown to encompass an estimated 10,000 schools across the nation and 4 million students.

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