When I was in high school, one thing that I heard so often from former graduates was that the friendships you make in high school won't really matter in the long run. So often I was told that when you graduate and move on to the next chapter of your life, those friendships will stay in high school. I was told that the people I was closest to then would be the people I lose contact with in the future.

People told me from experience that once they graduated, it was as if they never knew the people they were once closest to. Honestly, this initially terrified me. I couldn't imagine growing apart from the people I had spent the past 12 years of my life with. These were the people I laughed, cried and made some of the greatest memories with. I didn't want to lose that, and despite what I was told, a part of me knew that I wouldn't.

These friendships were rooted in something much more than just high school. They were forever friendships and forever memories. They were friendships that I along with these friends couldn't just let go, and so we didn't.

Here I am going into my junior year of college living proof that despite everything I was told in high school, you do not have to lose contact with your best friends after graduation. I didn't.

My friends and I all went our own ways. Some stayed back home, others went to colleges miles away, me being one of them. Saying that we all talk every single day would be a lie. With our busy lives that would be nearly impossible. But I can say that even after graduation, we can go months without talking, but the moment we are all in the same room it is as if we never left one another.

If anything, separating from one another after high school has just made us cherish the time we get to spend together that much more. We make an effort to spend as much time together as possible every break that we get, and in those moments we only grow closer.

Sure, things are different from the way they were in high school. Our lives, interest and even hobbies may be different, but the love we have always had for one another is exactly the same.

It is easy to believe that when you graduate it is just easier to separate and start new lives, but what good would it be to lose the ones who have been there through everything? It isn't always easy keeping in touch with everybody. Perhaps that is why so many people don't, but I promise you, when you have friendships like these it is worth it.

Whenever someone tells you that your high school friendships don't matter, just remember this: the only way they do not matter is if you do not want them to.

If you have friendships that you love the way I did, you will make them matter. You will take the time to catch up with one another when you have the chance, even if it isn't as often as you would like for it to be. These people played a big role in your life, and you do not have to let that go.

After all, the people you have the best memories with are the ones worth keeping in your life. Don't let distance or new lives keep you from one another.

High school friendships do not have to end after high school. That was just the first chapter of your life, who says the same people can't be in the second?