21 | THE HUMAN CONNECTION
DESIGN AND PHOTO BY NAOMI MITCHELL
f r i e n d s
Group of seniors have been friends since middle school. By Annalie Polen News Editor
“I
think it’s been the coolest thing ever to have had all these friends since middle school and although you don’t always hang out every year of high school… we’re all still such good friends,” senior Avery Yarbrough said. Yarbrough is one of the members of a large senior friend group. Not everybody can say that they experienced high school taking part in a big friend group, but it has played a prominent role in the experiences made by these particular group members. Like many friend groups, this one formed by everybody naturally coming together when they first met in middle school. “It’s one of those things where…. you can just kind of tell when you have similar interests, so you just become friends,” senior Myles Tuttle said. Although the group first came together in 7th grade, it has seen many changes as the years have gone on. “We have had so many fights. I have
fought with almost everyone in the group. We didn’t hang out with the boys for so long because we got in a huge fight with them. It’s just high school. You kind of get a little bit bored, you go and try to find new friends, but everybody always came back to each other,” Yarbrough said. Having the opportunity to spend their time in highschool in a friend group has mostly had a positive effect on the members, but has had some challenges. “From the inside, it’s fun. It’s good to be a part of it, but so many people have said that we seem really cliquey and people think we’re so close-minded and it’s not like that… We found people that we really liked,” Tuttle said. They went on to explain that most people in the group were not only friends with each other, but also had friends outside of the group. Having so many connections has even lead to the opportunities of meeting even more
people. “I have no regrets because I don’t feel like it holds me back from anything. If anything they introduce me to more people and people they are close with,” senior Emily Lang said. Although being in the friend group has been looked on with a positive outlook by most of the members, there is still the curiosity in knowing what high school would have been like without that aspect. “I really love everyone that I’m friends with, but you never know what could have happened if you met other people at a certain point. Maybe I wouldn’t be who I am now,” Tuttle said. At the end of the day, these seniors are pleased with how everything worked out. They have many memorable moments together to take away from high school. “I would be sad if on the weekend I didn’t have a huge group to hangout with,” senior Daniella Campos said.
