June 6, 2018

Graduation is next Friday, June 15th. After high school, people are going off to college, starting work, and moving away. The only question is this: how do we maintain our friendships after high school.

“I feel sad about us leaving but I’m happy my friends get to follow their journey to their dreams after high school even if it is far away,” says senior Jessica Soltero.

But while some people think of the new friends they’ll make and the dreams they’ll be following, others look behind at their high school friends.

“Most people may not think about it, but it’ll be hard to move on because we’ve been going to school together for years and are used to seeing each other every day,” says senior Treys Neptune.  “It’s even worse for my underclassmen friends because I will hardly see them at all anymore after graduation.

It’s important to make an effort to see your friends if you want to maintain your friendships.

“I hope that when people have their breaks for college that they’ll come back to this area and then that will give us time to reconnect,” says Neptune. “I don’t want to lose touch with any of my friends.”

However, many students are going far enough away that frequent visits may not be possible. So how do we maintain these far away friendships while also growing into ourselves where we are? Soltero and Neptune both agree that social media is the answer.

“Don’t be afraid to reach out to and contact old friends via Social Media,” says Neptune. “It may be awkward if you haven’t seen each other in a long while, but the effort of trying to reconnect is what matters.”

Whether or not we keep them, the friendships we make in high school help shape who we become as adults.