By Marilyn R, Staff writer
One of the most important aspects of high school is the friends you make along the way and how you all grow as people or spectate into other friend groups and grow from there. My four years here were mixed at times. The friends I’ve met at Galileo have changed over the years, but as my time in high school starts to come to a close I’ve learned that you’ll always find your own people at the end of the day; people that you connect with and a group of friends you find meaning in
And from being around a lot of different people and growing from friends’ experiences and leaving some people in my past to better myself. During my freshman year, my group of friends consisted of people who I felt I couldn’t be myself with. Even though I had friends, I still felt isolated. Sophomore year, well, I stayed home and couldn’t go out as much.
When school came back in person my junior year I was still with my friend group, similar to my freshman year but as the year went on, I chose to leave them for the betterment of my inner peace.
Toward the end of my junior year, I finally found my people. You could say they are people who are like me and understand me. And looking back, it’s funny how this friend group turned out because before I would always hang out with a larger friend group somewhere between 10-12 people, but now I have a small group of 6 – but quality over quantity.
The mix of different personalities makes the group special to me and the teachers we have grown close to as well have seen how we all grew as a group.
Ezra A was my “day one”; he and I are the base of the friend group. After I had left that friend group I spent every afternoon with him; every day we learned new stuff about each other. He is who I have to thank for showing me my own abilities and how capable I am of the things I wanted to accomplish. I will always share a deep appreciation for him.
Josh C is someone that is very close to me, and someone I’ve known since freshman year. We’ve always had a deep connection with one another. We still kept in touch sophomore year and the year we came back in person we grew closer and learned more stuff about each other.
Jonathan C was someone I met through Josh. At first, our conversations were minimal. We didn’t talk as much as we felt we were talking through Josh, but over time we found things in common, and talking to each other just came naturally and we grew closer in a matter of time.
Sammy P. is my cousin and she just transferred to Galileo this year. I was the only person she knew, but I introduced her to my friend group which was only us 3. At first, she wasn’t very open but over time we were more open with her and she also opened up to us and we all felt more connected to her. Even though she sometimes is just there and is on her phone watching something, she still chimes in and makes the conversations more interesting, and I’m glad she’s grown very close to all of them and like everyone in one.
Santos P is a long-time friend. From Freshman to Junior year, he was at Kipp high school but transferred to Galileo this year. We’ve known each other since middle school. We’ve had our ups and downs and even though we went to different high schools, we still kept in touch. He was one of the first people in my life I’ve felt myself with and appreciated me just for me. We’ve also let each other mature and give each other space to grow into the people we are today. Introduction to this friend group was easy. He got along with everyone and they got along with him quickly as well.
To me, this group is special because it’s the people I can consider a family with the amount of time I’ve spent with them getting to know not only them but their parents as well. The late nights we would all be together which includes the sleepovers as well. We all share the same interests and values, the trust and support we have with each other, as well as the fun and laughter. Overall our group is a safe space. And even though we have other friends, at the end of the day we still all come back together.
When I am older I will look back on the memories I’ve made with each of them and as a whole group. I’ll miss the inside jokes we have, I’ll miss when we go out to eat every Friday or one of our free afternoons when we spontaneously end up anywhere in the city.
It’s crazy to me how little time we’ve collectively known each other yet we’ve grown so close. It’s sad that after this year we won’t be near each other as we’ll be scattered all over the county attending different colleges. However, we will still keep in contact and never lose touch with each other and when we all come back together again for maybe holidays or vacations it will still be like old times.
