I was always told that to succeed in life, I’d need ambition and good time management. There was also always an emphasis on being independent. One thing I believe that isn’t brought up nearly enough as it should is having good friends around you.
I feel like the U.S. is a very individualistic country and that ends up reflecting on interactions at school. Even in group work I notice people avoiding their partners (which usually ends up in one person doing all the work but that’s an opinion piece for another issue). Also, with the fact we were just out of the pandemic, I feel like that made a lot of people shy.
I had some friends from middle school, but most of them were a year older than me, so I didn’t have many opportunities to keep in touch with them. It used to be a big group, but now I only really talk with two and a half people from all those years ago, not even from the same group. I’m extremely happy and fortunate that I still have Nethzary Villa, Adrian Roque, and Jenifer Valentin.
In my sophomore year, I made a “Getting to Know You” slide for my English class. I put down pictures of Qiqi from a game called Genshin Impact and Miwa from a series called Jujutsu Kaisen because I really liked those pieces of media. Those pictures caught the attention of one of my classmates, and now one of my closest friends, Brenda Olvera, who I don’t think I’ll ever leave anytime soon.
I met a lot of my friend group in my AP World History class. The saying “misery loves company” must be true because we all bonded over the pain of our teacher leaving halfway through the year. Thank you Ms. Blyleven for leaving me with amazing friends like Samuel Ruiz, Melissa William, and Gabriel Decastro.
It’s funny looking back and thinking about my first impressions of them before I officially met them. There were a few I saw and distinctly remember thinking they were mean and now I see Yuridiana De Miguel as one of the kindest people I know. A few of them I would pass by on the way to my next class or see during lunch. I honestly thought they were out of my league, too cool or too smart to even talk to me. Now breaks are so boring if Michel N Huerta, Natalie Garcia, or Giselle Vega aren’t around.
I can’t imagine how my life would have been or where I would be right now without their presence in my life. Even as I move onto college, even if we never speak or see each other again after graduation, I will always look back at our memories with a smile and a warm feeling in my heart.
