Amidst college orientation, early Greek Life rushing, and the process of making new friends, old friends find ways to keep in touch during the years following high school. With access to an increasing number of social media websites and apps, students find it less of a difficulty to stay close to high school friends despite distance.
Although some think that keeping in touch with friends from high school can be a challenge once you get to college, others said that friendships can be saved through various communicative methods such as Facebook and cellphone. However, it was noted that not all relationships can be prevented from falling apart.
Senior Keith Griffin said that while he plans on receiving updates about college from a large number of NCHS students, he primarily plans on staying in touch with his closest friends. “I’m going to need to stay at friend’s houses when I want to come back to New Canaan over breaks,” he said. “I plan on using my phone for communication, as well as Facebook, not so much to talk to kids but more to just look at pictures of what they’re doing.”
Senior Madzie Carroll also said that for the most part, she plans on staying in touch with her closest friends. “As many people know, there are a lot of cliques in high school. I intend to stay close with my clique, but the high school also has a lot of outlets to meet different people, so I would also like to stay in touch with friends that I gained in other activities. The nice thing is that you can decide how often you want to talk to people, but it’s always enjoyable to converse with friends that you might not have seen in a long period of time.”
Madzie said that in order to keep in touch with high school peers, technology is essential. “The iPhone application “Whatsapp” is very convenient because it allows you to talk to friends in any country. With this technology, we can stay in contact when we want, wherever our future endeavors take us.”
Senior Zach Bubrosky agreed with Madzie when he said how reliant on technology and more specifically social media he intends to be when keeping in touch with old friends. “The way I’m going to stay in touch with my friends in college is through Whatsapp and Snapchat. I want everyone to feel free to add me on any of these sites.”
Although students find it easy to contact friends through means of technology, many say that it doesn’t compare to hanging out with friends in person. Senior Stephanie Torromeo said that while she plans on talking on the phone with high school friends during college, she also looks to schedule visits. “I plan on staying in touch with some of my closest friends by visiting them at their schools,” she said. “But I think my broad group of guy and girl friends will stay in touch by getting together during summers and school breaks.”
While students said they are closest with peers of their own class, many also said bonds with students from other classes hold significance even when geographical distance is in play. Not only are seniors looking forward to keep in contact with other seniors, juniors said they intend to stay in touch with fleeting seniors as well. Junior Luke Montgomery said that he plans on talking to the 2013 class as much as he can next year. “I’m looking to stay in touch with people primarily on the baseball and football teams,” he said. “But there are also others that I’m friendly with and would like to catch up with every now and then, even when they’re so far away.”
Junior Cole Turpin also expressed desires to remain close with college-bound seniors. “I’m going to miss all the seniors, especially the ones on the lacrosse team who I’ve been growing up with and playing with throughout the years,” he said. “They were definitely the people who welcomed me the most in high school when I was a freshman. It’s really sad knowing that this was the last time that we’d all play together, but hopefully I will be able to visit them for a night when they’re in college, and I’m definitely going to talk to them on Facebook and over text.”