We’re All In This Together: My Experience with High School Friendships
As cliche as it sounds, when people told me that high school will go by fast, I didn’t want to believe them. I thought high school would never end, but here I am a couple of weeks from graduating high school and writing this final article for the Wingspan. High school has taught me a lot, especially when it comes to the value of friendships and managing the stress and anxiety in high school.
The people I walked into high school with are not the people I’m leaving high school with, which is perfectly okay. I had a rough time trying to make new friends and finding who my true friends are. My mom always said that it is rare to find and stick with the same people throughout high school, and I didn’t want to believe her because I thought my friends would always be there for me. I didn’t always stick with the same group of friends either. I moved and made new friend groups, however, they just never stuck. It wasn’t until our COVID shutdown that I realized who my true friends are, and I’ve discovered that I can count my true friends on one hand. And you know what? That’s perfectly fine with me. I know now that I don’t need to have a bunch of friends or be popular to be happy. I just need to know that the friends I do have will stick by me through thick and thin, and that’s all I can ever ask for.
I do not think I knew what the word stress meant until high school. All the hard classes, and figuring out time management was difficult. They don’t talk about that in 8th grade when you think you are “ready” for high school. But in a way, the stress was a good thing for me because it did motivate me to turn my work in, no matter how hard senioritis hit me. And yes, senioritis is definitely a thing!
So here is some advice to the underclassmen: high school is without a doubt the place that you figure out who you are as a person, who your true friends are, and as much stress or pressure that high school gives you, it will all be worth it in the end. You will have your breakdowns, and lack of motivation because, who doesn’t. However, in the end, it will be worth it when you are walking across that stage with your diploma in hand. And another piece of advice, make your 4 years in high school worth your while; go out on those late-night drives with friends, go shopping at the mall, or whatever you do, just have fun. Because you only graduate from high school once and it will be over before you know it.
High school is a mess and not what I expected. I honestly walked into high school thinking everyone was going to burst out into song, and we would breakdance in the middle of the cafeteria just like in High School Musical. I wanted Troy Bolton to sing to me at the Spring Musical, but clearly, that didn’t happen. Oh well, I guess it’s only like that in my dreams.
In real life, your friend shows up at your house at 7 am honking their horn loud to go get coffee. In real life, your teacher tells you that they aren’t really mean and are ones that you can go to and rely on and push you to do your best. In real life, you actually do finish your 5-page paper and turn it in on time… well maybe not the on-time part. In the end, high school has shaped me into the person that I am today. Without meeting different people and discovering lessons along the way, I would not be who I am, therefore I am grateful for that. As a soon-to-be graduate of Norristown’s class of 2021, I am proud of the person I have become. We really are all in this together.