FRIENDSHIP
Leaving Friends Behind
My best friend's name is Aymaan. We have been friends since 1st grade. We met at our school St. Mary’s in Mumbai City, India. St. Mary’s is a school for kids grades K-10. The school is very big and has three floors. There are over 1000 students of all religions. This is where I met my best friend Aymaan in first grade. We studied together and played together till 7th grade and then I moved to the USA. I felt very sad when I left all of my friends and cousins behind, especially by best friend Aymaan. Now, we still talk and play games online together. Aymaan still attends St. Mary’s in Mumbai and I attend Mather in Chicago. We are still best friends. Sometimes, we have a fight because of something silly but we always end the fight and become best friends again.
Abdoul Moeed
Class of 2024
Friendship
Having friends in life is fun. But when you don't have friends, life is boring. I have gone to a time when I didn't have even one friend for 2 years while I was in elementary school. I wasn't able to do anything in school because I had no one to study with or play after school. Once I started high school, I started having so many friends. . I can't even count how many friends I have but it’s a lot. I am so thankful. My life is so much better now than it was in elementary school. I hope that I don't lose my friends in my life.
Ismail S. Class of 2024
Life was difficult
I met my childhood friend Josue Thiboutot AKA "Pizou" more than forty years ago. We met during summer vacation in Seau-d'Eau, a beautiful town in Haiti. We both were from Port-au-Prince and as soon as we met, we became best friends. We have never been neighbors or attended the same schools, but we were inseparable during our childhood. We used to dress alike or wear outfits of similar color. I remember when I was a music teaching-assistant at my elementary school, students used to refer to me as Maestro Gaspard. They used to call Pizou Maestro, too. Moving to the United States has separated us but we are still good friends. Unfortunately, our relationship is not the same as it used to be because we both married, had children, different careers, and our own lives but we still consider ourselves best friends.
Gary Gaspard
Instructor of Social Work
Northeastern Illinois University
My name is Renata. Since the school year began I have made very good friends. This surprised me because in quarantine my way of being changed a lot from how I was when I lived in Mexico. I became lonely and I just wanted to be in my room. I didn't want to live or talk with anyone no one but since school started again, and, I met other students in person, my way of being changed to be more positive. I still have one of my best friends Adamaris, who lives in Mexico and, although we haven't seen each other in two years, we still talk all the time. I am happy to continue talking with her because at the beginning of Covid I felt very alone but when we speak, that feeling disappears. Here in the United States, I also have good friends. I don’t have too many friends, but the ones I have are worth a thousand. Among them is my friend named Eridani who makes me laugh a lot.
Renata Caudillo
Having friends is important to me. My friends’ names at school are Renata (Paulina), Ximena, Alexia, and Kenya. Although we have had many good and bad experiences, we are still inseparable. We roll play many crazy stories that make us laugh like pretending to get married to someone we like. Sometimes, I drive them crazy with my stories about the boy I like but, they help me to forget him since he does not know I like him. Of course, we also love to gossip. I thank them for being my friends.
Stephany Lopez-Valencia