At every Piedmont party, kick-it, or get together there is a surprising lack of students from other schools. But we don’t notice it; it’s normal to us. We know the kids at our school and never think about why there aren’t any new people at the events we go to. That’s just how it is.
I think it’s a shame we don’t socialize with people from other schools. We should try to leave the Piedmont bubble.
Other students from neighboring high schools often hang out with each other on weekends.
“A bunch of my friends, guys and girls, have best friends that go to other schools like Berkeley, Skyline and Saint Mary’s,” said O’Dowd senior Kelsey Dolby. “Often on the weekend, I’m with people from different schools.”
This is not so for most Piedmont students.
Personally, the only people I am friends with outside of Piedmont I met doing National Charity League, a mother-daughter charity group in Piedmont and Oakland, and I never see them outside of that group.
Though I cannot speak for everyone, I think it’s true that while everyone has a few friends outside of Piedmont we mostly stick to Piedmont friends and events and don’t spend very much time with students from other schools.
Why is this? I have nothing against students from other schools, in fact quite the opposite. I would love to meet new people! It would be great to make new friendships, branch out, and see who lives nearby us. You never know who you might become close to!
As far as I can tell, going to events with other schools or inviting people to events here just doesn’t come up. Maybe we’re more isolated because we’re the only high school in our city and see no reason to leave. Some of us have been in the Piedmont bubble since kindergarten, and there are people here who we’ve known since before we can remember. Break the monotony; meet someone new!
“I never see Piedmont kids unless I’m at the Claremont and even when I do they tend be with only Piedmont kids,” Dolby said. “I would say that you guys tend to only hang with each other.”
Honestly, I don’t see why we don’t branch out. No harm can come out of making more friends. This weekend we should all text those one or two people we do know, ask them to go out, get fro-yo or something, and just spend time with the people we don’t see as often. Maybe invite them to an event that night. Maybe they’ll invite you to something!
I really encourage everyone to go outside their comfort zones, get out of your normal weekend routines, and spice it up with a little inter-school interaction.
We’re all friendly people and there’s no reason for us not to put some effort into getting to know the people who live near us. We’re all the same age, we definitely have overlapping interests, and we probably have some mutual friends. Why not?
Dolby said it well, “I think you guys should socialize with us more! We love new faces!”
