Taylor Alphonso

Staff Writer

It’s common to feel alone when you are in a sea of people. This school year, even with all the struggles and losses that students have faced, there is one thing I will surely miss from this unfortunate time; the friends that I’ve made. 

As a hybrid student, I’ve constantly had to see the same five to ten people everyday for an entire year. Empty chairs and hallways brought me closer to people I otherwise haven’t spoken to in years prior to COVID. We now have inside jokes and stories that we can laugh about for years to come. 

There was something exciting about being one of the few kids doing school in-person while many others opted to stay home. Friends and cliques lay dismantled as students were forced into a group of people who they had likely never talked to before. It wasn’t a bad thing. People who I’ve gone to school with for 11 years and never spoken to before are among my closer friends. 

Once COVID ends and students flood the hallways at  North again, I’ll miss the small, friendly community of in-school kids from this school year. Even as the sea of students comes flooding back, friend groups are reestablished and kids who don’t belong to a group are left by themselves, I hope we all will stay friends. When I see my hybrid friends next year, it is my only hope that we’ll wave at each other in the halls and silently reminisce over an oddly peaceful year in a previously empty school.