Photos: Cliques shift like a kaleidoscope

The Enterprise — Michael Koff

Old stomping grounds: Matt Cerutti, center, a Guilderland graduate now a basketball player and student at The College of Saint Rose, chats with a group of Farnsworth Middle School students during their lunch period. Rather than sitting with their usual friends, students were seated by their birthdays as part of Mix It Up at Lunch Day, launched in 2002 by the Southern Poverty Law center’s Teaching tolerance project.

The Enterprise — Michael Koff

Mixing it up: Guilderland High School senior Elena Musteata, center, entrances a groups of sixth-graders at lunch time at Farnsworth Middle School in Guilderland on Tuesday afternoon as part of the national Mix It Up at Lunch Day, meant to break down social and racial barriers. Peer facilitators from the high school’s National Coalition Building Institute joined Saint Rose athletes in the program.

The Enterprise — Michael Koff

Girl talk: Tuesday afternoon during the lunch period at Farnsworth Middle School in Guilderland, Saint Rose Head Softball Coach Abby Arceneaux, right, talks with a group of students, asking questions to break the ice as they make new friends. Over a million students nationwide participated in Mix It Up at Lunch Day. Farnsworth Principal Michael Laster said students should learn “the important life skill of welcoming others into their lives.”