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However, despite the many challenges, the effort is SO worth it! Here are five reasons why it’s incredibly important to maintain your high school friendships.
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These people have shared four (or more) years of your life with you.
High school is an awkward time. Especially freshman and sophomore year, everyone is still trying to “figure themselves out”— hormones are raging, acne is flaring, and any communication with the opposite gender usually involves a thrilling combination of mumbling and lack of eye contact. Despite the cons, your high school friends were there with you every (awkward) step of the way. They were the ones you endured gym class with (nothing brings people together more than incessantly sweating in polyester gym clothes for fifty minutes a day), the people who loved you despite your obsession with cheap, synthetic clothes and poorly applied layers of black eyeliner, the ones who’ve shared in all the hardships and joys of high school.
2. You can look forward to seeing them when you come home.
College is awesome for so many reasons— but one of my favorites is that it made me value the people I left behind more than I ever could’ve imagined. Distance really does make the heart grow fonder. Plus, staying in touch with high school friends means endless breakfast or brunch dates when you return for home for break. Is there anything more enjoyable than drinking coffee, eating crepes and talking for hours about the excitement, struggles, accomplishments, stresses and joys of your differing college lives? I think not.
3. They can offer a fresh perspective in times of need.
Sometimes, you need someone with absolutely no personal connection or investment in whatever problem you’re facing. It could be something as simple as being annoyed with classmates you’ve been forced to collaborate with. Being able to rant openly— because you can be completely sure your friend in a different state will never, ever run into your horrible group partner— can be relieving and cathartic. In a different environment and undergoing separate experiences, your old friends can provide a piece of advice you’d never thought of before.
4. Visits back and forth between colleges!
Visiting a friend at a different college for a weekend is not only just plain fun to see a new city, campus, people, and eat new food, it also allows you to have an entirely different college experience for a few short days, because each university has a unique atmosphere. The best part of all is that after your exciting, action-packed weekend, you get to come back to St. Louis, wander down West Pine and remember why you fell in love with SLU in the first place.
5. There’s nothing better than reminiscing on all your fun high school adventures and memories.
Let’s be honest, is there anything better than rehashing all the incredibly weird, nonsensical things you and your friends thought were good ideas during high school? The kind of stories that make you accidently snort your orange juice all over chocolate chip pancakes because you’re laughing so hard over how funny you think you and your friends were, when in reality, the family sitting in the next booth is shaking their heads and thinking why are teenagers so dumb? Even if you and your friends have different lives on college campuses across country, you will always have those ridiculously amazing memories to fall back on.