It’s the first day of school, and students’ hearts drop when they look around and notice that they recognize absolutely no one in their class. As one would expect, making the transition from a class size of around 200 to 600 can definitely have an impact on student friend groups. There are numerous aspects that this change can affect, like how often freshman see their old friends from middle school, or even whether or not they are still considered “friends”.

NAEye interviewed freshmen to gain some insight into how their friend groups changed during the transition to high school. All students that were interviewed agreed that their friend groups expanded. However, they see those included in their friend groups less often. “Most of the faces I see in the hall are one’s that I’ve never seen before”, tells a student.

Despite this, most freshmen prefer having an enormous amount of peers in their school, because the higher class numbers, the more potential friends. “So far, I have made about 15 good friends that I didn’t have in middle school”, stated one freshman from Marshall Middle School.

For some students, they simply drifted apart from most of their old friends from middle school, and made new ones early in the year. For others, they may have  lost a few friends from the year before, but strengthened their bonds with the ones they kept.

For instance, one freshman says, “I don’t really keep in touch with some of my friends from middle school, but I’m still really close to the ones I see in class.” For most students, the best way to meet new people is electives. For instance, if a student is interested in yearbook, then it’s likely that that class will be filled to the brim with students who have similar interests.

Either way, it is inevitable for freshman to meet new people between all of their different classes and unfamiliar peers. Whether the new friends that are made are new or old, make sure to keep in touch because great friends that can be trusted make high school more enjoyable and less stressful for sure.