NORMAL - Garrett Smith went from being one of 28 eighth-graders last year in another school district to being one of 485 freshmen this year at Normal Community West High School.

Moving to a new community and such a big school was a little intimidating for Smith at first, but he got a lucky break. This was the first year the school offered its Freshmen Mentoring Program to all freshmen.

His mentor, junior Nathaniel Eaton, helped Smith make the transition from his former school in Windsor to the two-story high school that serves more than 1,500 students.

On Tuesday, he got the chance to learn even more about his schoolmates by participating in Mix It Up Lunch, an activity new to the school this year. The national program encourages students to meet and interact with students outside their typical social circles.

"I'm kind of shy meeting new people," Smith said. That made the program both "good and bad" for him because he met new people.

He joined into a mixing game, running through the crowded room to bow in front of a teacher. "Way to hustle," fellow students called to him.

The mixing event, as developed by the Southern Poverty Law Center's Teaching Tolerance program, called for students to be randomly assigned lunchtime seating to encourage them to interact with one another.

Students were given numbers and sat at assigned tables that included freshmen, juniors and seniors. They visited with each other before taking part in the interactive game that got Smith off his chair and in front of the entire group.

"We thought it would be a great way for freshmen to see more of their class," said Berny Chiaro, coordinator of the Freshman Mentoring Program and driver's education teacher.

Often freshmen see only about 30 students in their classes and others in the hallway. At the mixing event, they also sat with upperclassmen they might not normally meet.

The lunch, which helped students break out of cliques and traditional seating arrangements, matched the goals of the mentoring program. The mentoring effort started last year as a pilot program for a limited number of selected freshmen, but it was expanded to all freshmen this year.

Bloomington High School Principal Tim Moore said his school took part in the Mix It Up program last year, but not this year.

"Maybe next year," he said.