Students during Mix-it-up day in with Ms.  Bening’s advisory. (Julia Gurevitz’19/Media)

Keeping one of the key promises from their election speech after weeks of careful planning, Student Body President, Shreyah Mohanselvan, and Vice President, Nick Robie, brought back the old Academy tradition of Mix-It-Up Day. 

During activities period this past Friday, February 9, Upper School advisories were paired up based on their grade level. Freshmen were with juniors while sophomores were with seniors. In the course of these joint advisory meetings, students engaged in competitive Kahoot! tournaments, answering a total of 25 trivia questions with wide-ranging difficulties. The thrill of mixing didn’t stop there. 

Seating arrangements for lunch in the Dining Hall were assigned to encourage more of the unconventional interactions throughout the hour. Seated at each table, were a group of students from varying grades and a faculty member. In addition to discussing about topics such as hobbies and summer plans, students and faculty participated in leisurely rounds of playing cards and board games. 

With all of the excitement going around, time seemed to go by a little too quickly. Lunchtime, however, concluded on a sweet note with hot chocolate for everyone.

To individually get to know each of the over 400 students in the Upper Schoolis a challenge, especially when people feel restricted to communicating within their own friend cliques. But on this day, different class schedules and after-school commitments served to further carve the students into distinct groups. 

With the implementation of this year’s Mix-It-Up Day and more to come in the future, most will take this as an opportunity to step outside their comfort zones and connect with some fellow peers.