TGTSG

Like any other person at the beginning of middle school, I felt like I did not belong. I became friends with many great people, but none who I fully connected with. I wondered around sixth grade in search of the right clique, but spent most of the year by myself. In seventh grade I was moved to the gifted program, and found many of my elementary school friends. At the same time I met my best friend. We were both moved at the same time, and stuck with each other since we were behind the other students. Our friendship grew stronger and stronger yet no clique. When we got into high school, my best friend and I were put into the same magnet program. Over time, people started to hang around with us and we started forming our own clique. We had issues here and there; people would leave, people would come back and so on. Around eleventh grade, our clique had stabilized. We had other friends here and there but would always be ten of us together. We had our own table in the cafeteria, we had the same teachers so we would see each other often, but most importantly, we had each other’s back. We were never forced to do anything we did not want to do. We were never casted away. Whenever we have problems, we all take the time to listen to each other’s concerns. The moral of the story is it took me about 5 years to find my clique. You should not be afraid to be alone, because it is better to be alone then in bad company. You may not have a clique, but you’ll find one eventually. If not, go out and make your own. You may feel alone but so are many others. Find those with the same interests and create your own norms. “Have PATIENCE. All things are DIFFICULT before they BECOME easy.”

I believe that finding your clique is an important part of figuring out who you are as a person. Throughout middle and high school you may bounce around between various find groups and you know what? That is okay! You need that chance to discover what you do and don't like in your friends. Your friend group says a lot about who you are as a person. I was homeschooled until the 5th grade; then, in 6th grade I was placed in an actual school. I was the awkward kid, having a difficult time acclimating not only to school but also to a consistent social life. It took me all of my 6th grade year and part of my 7th grade year to finally figure out a friend group. However, I came from a very small school so my options for friend groups were limited. When I graduated 8th grade and went to high school, I was still at the same school and with the same group of friends. During this time, I established really strong friend groups with a handful of people, and was sociable with mostly everyone within the school. It was not until college that I realized who were my real friends. You will lose friends, and you will gain them; the best cliques are those who are loyal to one another no matter the distance. The cliques that no matter how long it has been, you can always come back together and hang out as if no time had passed at all. Honestly, if there is any advice that I could give someone struggling with finding their clique it would be to stay true to yourself. As cheesy as that may seem, you will never be happy among people unless you are free to be yourself around them. The next piece of advice I can give is that you do not need a lot of friends; it is better to have a small handful of close friends than to be acquaintances with everyone. So stay true to yourself and find genuine people to befriend; becuase the best friends groups are made when everyone is free to be themselves.