When I graduated from high school, my high school friends were, obviously, the only friends I had. That is, I had friends who didn’t go to my high school, but they still loosely fell under the category of “high school friends” in that they were friends of mine when I was in high school. Anyway, when I graduated from high school, I couldn’t imagine ever losing contact with these friends or having other friends like them. I had no reason to conceive of college friends yet, so my high school friends seemed like the epitome of friends – there’s no way to overstate that fact.
As I’m sure is the case with most people, I was only at college for about a week before my college friendships seemed to trump my already “old” and seemingly “past” high school friendships. It wasn’t that I hadn’t liked my high school friends; rather, the difference was that while I went to school with my high school friends and we hung out on the weekends, I literally lived with my college friends. We had classes together. We ate basically every meal together. We attended all of the same entertainment events. We went on vacations together. We even slept in the same room. In short, the friendships I developed in my first semester of college were and always will be different than any other friendships. As such, college friends are unique.
With that said, I have recently been reminded of the value of high school friends. While I never forgot my high school friends, I quickly lost consistent contact with most of them. My getting married at the end of last year helped bring a bunch of us back together again for a short time, and that’s probably what initially reminded me of the value of high school friends.
Beyond that, I have recently had contact with two high school friends who are now, interestingly enough, also college friends. That is, two guys I went to high school with also attend SMU, and it just so happens that I have a class with one of them this semester. When I was sick last week and missed that class, guess whose notes I borrowed? Here’s to high school friends.
The other guy I went to high school with who is now a Mustang was actually, not to be too confusing, originally the younger brother of a high school friend of mine. Though we hung out in high school, I was primarily friends with his sister. Now, I hardly talk to his sister at all, but I had a Facebook conversation with him last Saturday that lasted multiple hours, the text of which, between the two of us, would probably take up 10-20 pages in Microsoft Word. Here’s to high school friends.
To be sure I don’t leave anyone out, a girl I graduated from high school with is also at SMU, but I have unfortunately only run into her once since I’ve been on campus. When I first transferred to SMU, she (as well as the first high school friend I mentioned) provided me with a list of professors I should take along with other advice about being a Mustang. Here’s to high school friends.
See, as I’ve just mentioned, I’m a transfer student (as of a few semesters ago), and when I left high school I also left Texas, intentionally leaving behind everything and everyone I had known before. It wasn’t that I didn’t like my high school friends; it was just that I wanted to do something new. So this whole concept of a high school friend also being a college friend is quite new to me, and although I’ve been at SMU for three semesters now, this is the first semester I’ve really engaged my old high school friends as college friends. It’s been great getting to know some of my high school friends all over again, to reestablish those old relationships and add new facets to them, and I’m greatly looking forward to seeing these high school/college friendships develop as my time at SMU continues.
Matt Brumit is a junior humanities major. He can be reached for comment at [email protected].
