Imagine your first day of school. Whether you are in kindergarten, middle school, or even high school, the experience makes you nervous but excited. You are walking into the new chapter of your life. Who do you go to first? Most people would go to a friend or someone they talk to.
Think about the practices in preschool or elementary school. A lot of activities are getting to know people around you and learning things about them to see if you have anything in common. While it may be scary at first, something new and beautiful can bloom from these activities. Friendship.
Friends are important in life, especially in the awkward and hard years of school. Having a good and loving friend group can make you feel like you belong. Friends have the ability to make someone feel like they have a backbone. It doesn’t matter how many friends you have, but it matters how they make you feel.
Although some people stay friends for the whole school journey, now with social media it has dimmed the light and caused strain and even friendship breakups. In the modern world, a lot of misinformation or misunderstandings occur. Distrust can come from group chats without a person saying rude things behind their back or making fun of someone. Rumors are spread easily and quickly just through the palm of your hand.
Even though these setbacks hurt some students, some push through and have the best friendships of their childhood or early adulthood. Some friend groups form in middle school or high school and can last forever. To envision the levels of friendship, here’s an example from the beginning to the end of high school.
Freshman year, the scary realization that you are starting to grow up. Walking into the new school you’ve never been in, a new schedule, new teachers and kids. It’s scary. But as the year goes on the more comfortable you get. 14-year-old Adia Cramer has had her group of friends since the seventh grade. All of the girls had come from three different elementary schools. All of these girls have been through fun times and hard times. This year starting their first year of high school, learning a whole new way of life. Going through new changes that they have experienced in middle school. Adia explains, “I trust these girls, they’ve helped me through so much. They’ve been there for me during hard obstacles I’ve been through.” The freshmen have been to school dances, holiday events, and field trips together. Cramer said. “ Even though we are halfway through our first year, I have a good feeling about us staying good friends.” These girls have grown closer as the years have gone by, unveiling a new chapter in all of their lives.
17-year-old Sophia Bulava and Arianna Cramer have been friends for the past 12 years. In 2012, we were brought together by a dance class at The Dance Alley. This year going to Disney and danced together in Dance the Magic. Sophia said, “At that moment our personalities just clicked and we got close super fast.” Bulava and Cramer have had the best time being best friends, going on vacation together, having fun Facetime calls during COVID-19, and having crazy sleepovers watching scary videos, running around, and playing games. We’ve been able to be stable by trusting each other and being honest. Whether it’s just feeling loved by talking to each other or doing stunts in dance and cheer. Sophia explains, “ I think honesty is really important in a friendship, if you lie about something it can push two people apart.” Sophia cherishes the friendship that she has and is grateful to have, “her person.” When this school year comes to an end, Sophia will be going to college and Arianna will be a senior in high school. Even though distance may put them apart, they will still persevere and remain close.
(Arianna Cramer and Sophia Bulava)