As I prepare for my senior year of college, I cannot help but look back on the past three years and the amazing opportunities that I have had along with the wonderful friendships and relationships I have acquired over this time. When I enrolled I was afraid that I would be alone over the course of the four years, that I would be in school due to the fact that all of my friends over my 12 years of schooling had applied and accepted to different schools and none would be attending the same as me. I worried about struggling over the four years and with no one to lean on. I often looked at television shows or read books in which the character was in school and felt that I needed to live my college life the same way. I thought the only way to be happy in school was to have a huge friend group, but soon after learned that happiness could be achieved as long as I had a caring core group in my life. These fears soon changed after meeting the group that I have in my life today and that I am lucky enough to call my best friends. I have learned not only about the good nature of people through them but they have helped me to learn more about myself as we grew closer. They have made more of an impact on my life than they will ever know and I hope that this letter helps to show them this great impact and the love that I have for them and will always have.

We may have only been friends for a short period of time but it often feels like we have always been apart of each others' lives. There is a connection that I always feel when we are together and even though we may not have gone through all of the memorable moments of each others' lives, we not only know about them but we understand how those moments influenced one another's life, decisions, and impact on their future. None of us judge one another on their past and I know that we would never judge for future decisions. We want what is best for each other and we would do anything to help each other out if someone is struggling. I have loved being able to share a piece of myself with all of you and the times where we all just sat and talked about everything in the world. In our friendship, we often go days without talking but that does not mean that we are falling apart, we just all have busy lives and are just as easily able to pick up where we left off and continue from there.

These past few years have been some of the most difficult I have faced in my educational history, but you have all made it worth it and helped to ease the difficulties whenever you could. I have often questioned if I was making the right decisions and you all were always there to guide me when I felt lost, or where I just needed reassurance in myself and my choices. We have all been there to support one another in whatever way we could when we saw one of our friend's going through a difficult time and in need of help from one of us. Our friendships have always been about supporting one another and helping solely for the person who needed it, our friendship never had qualities of selfishness and we never hoped for one another to change for our own gain. This had often been a change for me due to dealing with multiple friendships and relationships in which I felt used or a need to change in order for my "friends" to like and accept me. Our friendships have grown a part of who we are and I now base all of my future friendships on the qualities that ours contain.

We have had countless memories over the past three years both while at school and during our breaks together. From formals to adventuring around between classes, our group never has a dull moment. I couldn't imagine spending these moments with anyone else. We were never the kind of people who felt the need to always go out and the simple things soon became what I remembered our friendship for. They were the moments that I enjoyed the most and I continue to still love just being in each other's company. It has been such an enjoyment to see us all grow together and grow into the people we were meant to be over the past three years. Through our friendships we have also developed new ones with people we may never have met otherwise. It is with these connections we have developed that have not only strengthened our own friendships but created a core group like nothing I have ever seen before. Through all of you I have not only gained those friendships, but I have gained a circle outside of ours that I value just as much.

You were always the people who I knew that I could count on whenever something was wrong, whether it was stress from school, a problem at home, or a relationship issue. I always felt that I could be 100% honest with all of you and I always felt a true sense of trust and empathy when we talked. I never felt as if I had to put on a façade when we were together or a need to impress you. It was when I was with you all that I could finally be myself and you were all accepting of that and never wanted me to change unless it would be to better myself and my own life. You are those who I know that I can always count on and lean on when I am in times of trouble.

I would like to say to you all thank you as we proceed into our final year of school together. I do not see graduation as a final goodbye but more of a next chapter to our lives. We may go in different directions and there will be times that we may drift apart but our friendships will always have a footprint on my heart. These memories we have created over the past couple years will forever be the ones I remember for the rest of my life. Our friendship was what had helped me make it through the past three years and what will hopefully help me to get through the rest of my life. You are the people that I hope to still have in my life in 10 years, the people I can always count on no matter what the problem may be, and most of all the best friends I never knew that I would have and that I am so thankful to be able to have in my life. It is with this that I leave you with a quote from Josh Groban's "You Raise Me Up".

"You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains. You raise me up to walk on stormy seas. I am strong when I am on your shoulders. You raise me up to more than I can be."

I hope that our friendship has meant as much to you as it will always remain to me. I hope that you all know that I will always be a shoulder for you to lean on, an ear to listen, and a source of strength when you can no longer find it in yourself. I hope to always show you all not only how much you mean to me, but how important you are and the value that each and every one our your lives hold. Friendships is not always measured by who you have be friends with the longest, but by those who have made the greatest impact on your life and who said that they would be there for you and were. Thank you again for the best three years of my life and hopefully we will all share a million more memories together as we walk across the stage and into our future, together.