Just like all other high school seniors, the current graduating class of 2022 at Da Vinci Communications are facing numerous life-changing decisions. There is a profound level of impact that friends hold over the choices of these individuals. Friends can impact the way that seniors view themselves, their mindsets, and even their decisions for life after high school.

Every senior at DVC has a different perspective on life and how they interact with others, which is reflected in the type of friends that these students have.

Senior Silvia Calderon claims to be an emotionally distant person due to her lack of trust in people and feels like social interaction is draining for her. Calderon is extremely introverted and believes that this factors into the people she is friends with and how many friends she has, but admits how they push her to be a better person.

“Before, it was kind of competitive… I always felt like I had to one up friends or like they were trying to one up me,” Calderon said. “Now it’s kind of like the friends I have now, we tell each other… it’s okay, you don’t have to be doing that much, you know, prioritize your mental health. So they motivate me to find that balance.”

Friends can be essential to living a healthy and happy life, they largely affect a person’s mental state of mind. Based on the Australian Longitudinal Study of Aging, individuals that have friends live longer compared to family members and other relatives by a total of 22 percent (INC 2017).

Lance Park, a senior at DVC, doesn’t think that his values will alter when it comes to friendships after senior year just because of how he already knows what he wants to do in the future. Park’s plans for college were always set in stone for him, he wasn’t merely looking at his life choices based only on his friends. 

“I really always wanted to do the same thing, after I graduated high school to go to college and then after that, I wanted to go into business and work with my dad,” said Park. “I’m probably going to go to college, somewhere in California…I want to stay close to my family, and also my friends so I don’t want to move too far away.”

Emma Angel is also a senior at DVC, her and her friends have similar interests when it comes to  contributing in school clubs or groups. Angel prioritizes her goals for the future, yet hints that she and her friends may stay together due to their similarities. 

“Ideally, I would like to move away from home, depending on like where I get in and stuff. I would like to go [to the] east coast, but I’m also like not opposed to being in California…,” said Angel. “I feel like the way I’m planning it… I come first, but also I know my friends and I have similar colleges on our list because we’re also like interested in similar things too.”

Senior Vincent Pech discusses how he gets motivation from his friends and their goals to go to college after high school. He feels that by seeing his friends push themselves, it pushes him to go to college and get additional education that will benefit him in the future.

“My friends that are all striving to go to college, it definitely inspires me to also want to at least get those two years of free community college because I feel that extra education can get you that much farther and knowledge really is power and the keys to life,” said Pech. “The more knowledge and the more credentials you have under your belt, the better.”

According to SoFi, friends can motivate people to work harder. Whether it is developing more money, improving grades, or even increasing academic success, it’s advised to hang out with individuals who are also working to achieve that same goal. 

“They always kept me busy and really gave me that different perspective of life and they always just kept me level headed and balanced…” Pech said. “If I didn’t have friends, I would feel like I’m working all the time, it’s just me against the world.”