POULSBO — In the sands of school popularity, lines are constantly drawn. Between cliques and individuals, oftentimes these divisions are nothing more than a fear of the unknown.

However, once the barriers are broken, it becomes easier and easier to cross into new territory.

With that thought in mind, Poulsbo Elementary challenged students to mix it up and tear down their school’s superficial walls as part of national Mix it Up at Lunch Day Nov. 14.

“They had such a great time, I had a bunch of kids coming up to me to tell me how Mix It Up Day rocks,” said Carol Cleveland, an assistant principal for the school, who spearheaded the project with the help of the school’s Associated Student Body. “It was very successful.”

As students made their way to the lunchroom at around noon, they were randomly filed out of their typical peer groups to sit at a table with someone new. Though many of kids have seen each other around at PES, the goal of the day was for students to start conversations outside of their comfort zones, Cleveland said.

The discussions didn’t have to be scholarly in nature, rather just an attempt to break the ice and learn something new or something at all about their peers.

“If we saw a table that was starting to stagnate or not talking much, I would go up and get them going by asking what their favorite sport is, or what they ate for breakfast, just to get them talking,” Cleveland said.

Through open lines of communication the seeds of tolerance are planted. And with cliques beginning to form even at the elementary school level, discussions of individuality and difference and the acceptance of both is in dire need, Cleveland said.

That — in addition to the Mix It Up Day posters filled with the signatures of those students who enjoyed the day — is why the school plans to continue Mix It Up tolerance activities and events throughout the year.

“I’m planning to have Mix It Up Days once a month,” Cleveland said, adding that school grants could be available for future projects that take the activity one step further.

In addition to the student body freely mingling amongst itself, Nov. 14, the staff also got into the mix of Mix It Up Day. Cleveland organized an activity aimed at acquainting teachers with some facts they didn’t know about their colleagues.

Each teacher wrote a little known fact about themselves on a piece of paper, then the entire staff had to figure out which tidbit belonged to which teacher. In the end they each got to know each other a little better as Cleveland e-mailed out the results Nov. 17.

Students at Poulsbo Junior High also held their own Mix It Up Day Nov. 14, and as the district prepares for a grade level transition that will turn the grades 7-9 junior high into a grades 6-8 middle school, inter-grade level Mix It Up Days are an exciting possibility, Cleveland said.

“I think (this day) enhances the learning environment because the kids were having fun,” she said.

It was a day where no one was an outcast, she added.