Friends. Can you trust them?

A girl was walking past tent plaza. Meanwhile, all the kids under the tent are watching while eating their food. Staring at her. She gets the jitters and walks faster. They turn and and start talking to one another. The girl then runs of to her friends who are sitting far away from tent plaza.

1 out of 4 people in grade 8 feel they are true friends. That is true in many cases. Many people think of themselves as true friends and many don't. But in the end, everyone is friends. Everyone is brought in at UWC. There are people who are friends with other people but are always nice to others. This 1 out of 4 people may feel as if they are friends but they might not actually be true/good friends. Feeling is when you have a thought and then have an emotion after it.

Dr. Sanjay, psychiatrist in Lilavati Hospital in Mumbai, says that people get overwhelmed when they think they are popular. When asked what types of friends are there, Dr. Sanjay replied "There are many types of friends. There are BFF's, Good Friends, Acquaintances and many more. All these are just statements but in the end, true friendship lies between you and your connection with your friend." A new 8th grader shared her story. "So last year I was in an accident and my face got really messed up so I thought no one would accept me for who I was. After I came back from the hospital my friend called me. I thought I should tell her since she didn't know. I was going to hang up but she insisted I show her how I looked. Once I showed her she didn't laugh, give me pity or anything she simply started saying I don't look as bad as she thought I would. Basically she cheered me up. She made me feel really happy being accepted. She was the only one who accepted me after I went to school. All of my friends made fun of me they bullied me for being in the accident."

Helen Keller once said “I would rather walk with a friend in the dark, than alone in the light.” Everyone should have friends who do this. Many famous actors and superstars have friends next to them to help them when they need that help. If it means you need to step back a bit then that it is what you do. Dr. Tucker, as doctor working in Mount Elizabeth Hospital, says. "When you are in stress, or you need some help, your friends would be the first person you would go to." he said "Middle Schooler's always go through this phase and when they need friends a lot. But in times like this, people often forget about their friends"

This is a story that really makes us go "What could I have done to help?" Well this brings us to the next steps into the future. What you could do is try to reach out to people when they need help such as a new girl at school. Go out and give your hand by helping them go around. Small things can be done and you can be a better friend. Thats what true friendship is all about. When someone is in need of you help, you go out to help them. That is exactly why we should have friends. They are always there for you like when you are troubled or need help yourself. Like the quote goes 'A friend in need is a friend indeed'. You can help the new students from feeling out of place and alone by just talking to them and being their friend as that can brighten their day.

When you are down, go talk to a counsellor or someone to clear your problems. Your friends might not be the best people to talk to as they might go behind your back and talk mean things about you. Share your feelings with someone you know you can trust and know that they can keep a secret. Your parents are really good people to talk to as they have been through middle school just like you and so they may know how to deal with it. You can also talk to your pets as pets really help you feel better.

Remember, never let others control you and you should be able to pick your right friends. Always be yourself and try not to please others because you want them to be your friend. They should appreciate you for who you are. 

Dance Fever

Middle school socials. The music, the food, the dancing and the DRAMA. According to most middle school students, it has become an honorary ritual.

“Someone always leaves crying, or mad at someone else” says a source before adding; “Last time, one of my friends received a prank call saying that if she wasn’t home in half an hour, they would kill all her friends.” Is that really something a middle school student should be hearing? One can only imagine how horrifying it must have been for them to receive such a disgusting so called “prank call” while they were just trying to have a good time with their friends and peers. “Sometimes students think its funny to scare their friends with threats like these” explains a middle school councillor. “What they don’t understand is how much it actually scares the other person, talking about dying is not a joke” she says.

Other stories are mostly about typical teen drama like, “he won’t talk to me” or “she won’t dance with me” etc. Now, this is normal, teens will be teens, and there really isn’t a solution to these problems. Most teens find it hard to talk about these problems with an adult, so they like to confide in their friends and then bury the hatchet. “What they need to understand is that sometimes, talking to an adult is more beneficial than talking to someone the same age as you, simply because adults have more experience with these situations and your friend might just have the same mindset as you.” says a high school student. “As they grow up, they need to understand that sometimes, its better to let something go, than make a mountain out of a molehill.” adds a bystander.

As middle schoolers, adults would expect and trust them to be responsible and to think about what they say before they let words flow out of their mouths. Socials are meant for relaxing, bonding, and making new friends, not for starting rumors and fights between friends or acquaintances.

There are reports that the upcoming socials are going to be even better for the year eights as this is their last year of middle school, before transitioning on to the great big world of high school, and unconfirmed sources tell us that there might even be a semi formal at the end of the academic year. So the only thing left to do, is keep calm and party on!

The Popularity Division

Take a look around. A good look around. Look around to find them, because you will. Somewhere, in every school there is always that group. The boys that hang out with those girls, and those girls that hang out with those boys. But not just any boys and girls. The boys and girls that deem themselves higher than all else. The girls with layered makeup, and the boys puffing out their chest. Boys hitting one another and girls giggling foolishly. Because they will be there. This is the social segregation.

The lunch bell rang and there was that usual commotion as everyone ran downstairs to que up. Everyone went to their normal places but for one boy who stood, playing around the long table in the centre of the cafe. A couple walked up to him holding hands and dropped off their bags giving him look of surprise and indignation mingled with disgust. ‘He’s at our table?’ They thought. Walking away without another look back he was left alone standing in the middle of all this bedlam, shunned away from all else.

In all schools around the world there is always a divide. A segregation between many similar to Apartheid that divides between different people who deem themselves more popular than others. First lets talk about the word, What does Popular even mean? The dictionary defines it as people who are admired by many people or a particular group. But why? Why does this mean you are different from others? Being deemed popular or trying to get to that stage changes so much about who you really are, From where you hang out to your dress sense, to how do you things just regularly. You become a different person under the influence of this social pressure.

Not only does it change your physical self but it undermines your personality and who YOU truly are. Its not about what you want anymore or what you do. Its about what the people want.

Sweating nervously he sat looking across the plaza. All the girls were huddled to together, all whispering looking at him every couple of seconds. Tapping his feet, he looked around to see the other boys all crammed around discussing the situation. Should I do it? Pressure waves kept running through him. It was too late to back out now.

Social pressure is also a sad thing that relates to how people change. There is always that pressure that is put on you by others, A pressure that grow’s and grow’s varying with the matter. Like a disease, It spreads engulfing you in the need to do what you have been pressured into.

A great example of this pressure is asking someone out. You yourself might not really want to, but remember? It’s not what we want anymore. Its what they want. Its not really like you have a choice either, to be perfectly honest. You do and everyones happy, however if you back down your looked down upon, and your ‘levels’ just drop like the NASDAQ.

Sitting up slowly, he took a look at what he saw. He was not happy with what he saw. Questions kept running through his mind, ‘Would she like it?’ Would they like it? Subconsciously he began putting wax in his hair to try and make it look good. Same old, same old routine ‘yikes’ He thought, hopefully people wouldn’t think to much about him today.

You see? Popularity has become a thing that makes even boys insecure about yourself. It’s all about how you look, how your image is portrayed. How people will think of you. It all comes back to the same question all the time. How will will my image be portrayed? Will I be popular enough?

‘I always tried to change for them’ A source wishing to remain unidentified tells us. ‘The way I liked to dress was no longer important. It was about the trends that were going through at the time which I eventually keeled to.’

Popularity is something that changes who you are. not the only what is underneath but the layer above, the one that everyone see’s.

Amongst other things, one of the things that ‘Popularity’ does change is what society deems you should be good at. Passions now should be something masculine, cool rather than something that you enjoy. An unconfirmed source tells us ‘Something that I am really passionate about is Dance. But I have been bullied about this in the past. Its not good enough, its Macho. Its not what everyone else wants to see. I tried to get into something else, Football, Rugby, Tennis. None of them I really enjoyed, It was Dance that was my passion.

Those football players, those rugby Jocks, those kids are the cool ones. Making the team, well that just your levels rocketing like product shares of apple when the first iPhone came out.

If there is one thing that you do after reading this, is just be prepared, be wary that their are all these different people in the world out there. They might not necessarily be bad, but what they do do is create an influenza in society, where everyone is engulfed in this need to become great.

Being A Teenager

In middle school students begin to care about friends more and their reputation is very important to them, but in high school the relationships with their friends is critical and they often struggle to understand who they are and where they fit in.

Being a teen is rough but exciting at the same time, there are its ups and downs. Teens need a good balance with their studies and their social life. Some teenagers often forget that going to school is for studying and not only to see their friends. But the teenagers that don’t have friends or very little of them feel lonely and excluded which often leads to depression. Teenagers have to face obstacles such as finding the wrong friends or backstabbers before finding their true ones, but some naturally prefer to be alone.

All teenagers are different, some are smart, some are dumb, some are sporty and some are less but they are never alone. Some are none of these and they are the ones that find it the hardest to fit in maybe because they think that they are different or maybe they think that nobody feels the same way. The teens that are the most “different” are the ones that are the most vulnerable and the most likely to be victims of bullying or being teased. The ones that are bullied end up feeling insecure and lose their self-esteem. In the US, at least 160,000 children skip school due to bullying.

An anonymous 8th grader in the Lycee Francais de Singapour liked to wear tight clothes but she was bullied and teased for being chubby. As a result, she started cutting herself but she fortunately found a friend that convinced her to stop. She was asked about how she felt about this and she replied “Girls who made me feel insecure about myself can just continue teasing me but to be honest it would be a waste of their time.” In conclusion, school is rough but with the right attitude everyone makes through it.