Friends Throughout The Years

It is really crazy to think that I have gone through my entire schooling with the same people, with the exception of people coming to our school and leaving our school. We have all known each other for such a long time but at the start we were at three different school districts. I was at Wales Central School which was the smallest of the three schools. This is where I was going to meet my first friends that I would have throughout high school. The experience of me preparing for my first day was not that bad because my sister had already filled my head with what to expect on my first day, so I was ready. As my mom walked me to the bus stop at the end of the road I noticed another kid waiting with their mom. It was Morgan, the first friend I would meet throughout my journey at school. Upon waiting for the bus she invited me to play on her plastic playground that was in her front yard, I thought it would be fun so I agreed. As we both were playing we saw the bus and ran over to the side of the road and prepared to get on. Stepping on to the bus was like stepping into a whole new world, there were kids of all ages making so much noise and commotion. Unfortunately this would not change throughout my entire schooling. But despite the bus ride full of headaches and discontent we made it to school. Meeting the other kids in my class was not much of a chore, there were about twelve of us. Two that stuck out the most to me were the twins, Caleb and Colby. They were the two I spent the most time with from kindergarten to second grade, these were the two who would eventually get me interested in soccer as well. We had a lot of fun at Wales and I am sure if you asked any of the kids who went they would tell you how close we were. If there was a birthday party in the class, the whole class went. It was not until second grade when our little bubble that was Wales Central School would burst.

It would be an understatement to say that the merging of the three school districts was life altering. I thought my whole world was ending, I did not want to go to school with new kids and have to meet new people. I loved Wales Central School. I did not want to leave to go to Carrier Ricker. Like most kids I was not happy about this, but I didn’t realize the gravity of the situation until the first day of third grade. Caleb was sitting with someone new, and it was none other than Levi Sturtevant. I was heartbroken. I mean they were even sharing their snacks with each other. I thought I was going to have to start over and make new friends. Luckily the situation was actually all okay and I did not make a mortal enemy that day. I made a new friend with Levi and I became very good friends from that point on. 

Third through fifth grade was such an exciting time where I met so many new people including, Brandon, Brady, Julia, Nash, Dom, Liam, Nate, and so many other people that I am so happy that I met. With meeting new people came new friend groups Brandon, Levi and I would begin to hang out a lot more at lunch and recess which was the highlight of everyday. We were even on the same soccer team so we got to see each other a lot.  After school everyday when Brandon’s mom, Rebecca, would pick Brandon up I would wave to him saying “Bye Bam Bam!” and he would respond everyday saying “Bye Maxy!”. School at this point had started to become a lot harder, but luckily I had some good friends to do it with me. I remember sitting in class with Nash, cruising through math together. We got to a point where we would just put both our names as “Mash” on the paper to show off our shared intellect and friendship. As much I had hated the idea of the schools merging in the beginning, I was not prepared for what was to come. What I thought was the worst thing to come in all my schooling, turned out to be the best. What I was not ready for, and likely never will be ready for is my friends leaving and going their separate ways. Brandon was switching schools and would not be going to Oak Hill Middle School with us. 

I was sad for quite a while to not have Brandon in class anymore but luckily things stayed close to the same. Since it was not up to Brandon to move, Rebecca would offer to drive Brandon, to come pick us up on weekends whenever he wanted us over because she knew how hard it was for Brandon. As well as spending weekends together, we also spent winters skiing and snowboarding together. So I was able to see Brandon quite a bit. Without having Brandon in school with me, as well as the transition from fifth to sixth grade, I got the chance to make a lot of new friends. I would become a lot closer with friends such as Nash, Julia, and Dom since we all had class together. What I found to be the most important part about this time in my life is how much better I, and the entire team, got at soccer. Going into seventh grade meant that we would be playing for the middle school team, and no longer Sabattus Recreation. This change also meant that we would have a new coach. Our new coach was Chad Pickett, and he was an awesome coach who taught me a lot about the sport and my playstyle. He would be the coach to lead us into winning the league in 8th grade with an outstanding record. It was from that point on where I and a few other players on my team really started to take soccer seriously, and I would start to play year round. In the winter we would play in Waterville, where in our first session we lost in double overtime and in our second session with only half our team, we won. As the end of eighth grade approached I knew that I would have to prepare for another change. It also became known that Nash would not be coming to the high school with us so I would have to deal with another friend leaving. Then came eighth grade graduation where I was really sad to leave middle school, I had really grown to enjoy it. But as we got our diplomas for leaving eighth grade we all took pictures and returned to Nash’s house for a party. It was really fun to get to be with everyone before we went our separate ways for high school but I was really excited for what high school had to offer.

High school for me started earlier than some due to double sessions for soccer. This would be a good chance for me to prove myself. One of my best friends threw up during the first practice due to a misjudgement on how much to eat before the running. For me it was not that intimidating to meet the upperclassmen since most of them liked me because I was pretty decent at soccer. I secured myself a spot on the varsity team which was a great start to my freshman year. This would also be the year where I would meet one of my best friends, Alex. I remember being in Flip class freshmen year and Mrs. Rose asked if I’d be willing to introduce myself to the new kid. I was all for it because I love making new friends so I went over and worked out with him during points. We exchanged numbers and we had a few classes together but little did we know an amazing friendship would come out of it. Going through freshman year was not as bad as I heard it was, soccer was pretty good, I did well in classes, met new teachers, went to prom. Going into sophomore year Levi and I began hanging out with upperclassmen like Ethan Ivy and Adam Lapointe. We hung out quite a few times leading up to double sessions, but this time we had a new coach. He was a previous coach from when Brandon, Levi and I were on the same team. It was Coach Bill, Riley Worth’s dad, which was great for me because I really liked Bill as a coach. He had the same playstyle as me so I learned a lot from him. 

As soccer wrapped up and I got back into focusing all my attention on school. I learnt about a program called LRTC which is a program where every other day you could go to a technical center to learn a trade. I was really interested in doing this but I was very unsure of which class to do. I was interested in automotive because I always thought it was cool and fun, but I always had a passion for cooking so I decided that I would take the culinary course. This would be the best decision that I made throughout all of high school, this is where my passion for cooking would be fully realized. Going into this class Junior year I was really nervous about it but I soon realized that it is an amazing environment where it is okay to make mistakes. I met a lot of new friends in this class such as Walter, Nathan, and Rachael, I also would form an awesome bond with the Chef. I really cared about becoming better at cooking so I took it very seriously. I studied for every test and reviewed all the assignments and projects that he gave out. All of this hard work and dedication would pay off with me eventually working at numerous restaurants. I am very lucky to have gone through the program and make as many connections as I did with the people involved. Alongside with cooking, I became even better friends with Alex to where I met most of his other friends including Zach, Nick and George. We would have many sleepovers with all of us and many trips to Alex’s mountain biking races. We all have gotten very close with each other, especially Zach and I. I consider Zach one of my best friends for sure, unfortunately he is going to college in Canada next year, but I know that we are still going to be really close despite the distance. I owe many things to all of my friends from my sense of humor, my hobbies, my traits and what makes me who I am. I know with the end of senior year coming I am going to have to accept that my friends and I are going all across the country. Despite this I know that we are going to remain friends throughout our college experiences. 

My years of schooling have been filled with amazing memories and even more amazing people. I have been very lucky to make so many friends throughout the years, I know that these people will imprint on me for the rest of my life. So I thank each and every one of you who have taken the time to listen to my speech because I am sure whether you believe it or not. You have made a difference in my life.

Photo by arbyreed on Foter.com / CC BY-NC-SA