State school is really just college with your middle school crushes

Of course we all came here because we genuinely love UMass. What’s not to love? We have a stunning campus, amazing food, and unending school pride, but there is one thing that has haunted me over my years as a Minuteman. And that thing is my middle school self. Everywhere I turn I run into someone from the Wachusett district. Eight people in just my class went to UMass.

Jenny lived below me freshman year

I grew up in Princeton, MA and attended Thomas Prince School. In comparison to most schools, it was extremely small. There were maybe 350 students split between grades k-eight. I think there were 36 kids in my graduating eighth grade class, and I knew all of them far, far too well – as they did me. So, in an attempt to have a fresh start, I attended Monty Tech High School.

It was great. I had a chance to build a new face for myself, free from the bitchy twelve-year-old that I had once been. I made new friends, started new hobbies and began to find myself. My past was behind me. But then I made one crucial mistake: I went to a state school.

Mya (center) is now in IGU with the girls I lived with freshman year

Don’t get me wrong, UMass is the best. But it is also Wachusett High School, only bigger. Everywhere I look I see the kids I went to summer camp with, people I haven’t seen since eighth grade, and people I once took ballet class with.

A girl I hadn’t seen since eighth grade lived on the floor below me freshman year. There was someone on my floor who was now best friends with all the kids I’d grown up with. I’ll be eating dinner at Hamp and turn to my left only to see the girl who I had sworn to destroy all of Jr. high. My best friend from summer camp and I will suddenly be drunk together at a frat house together. It is the strangest experience.

Dusty (in orange) worked in catering with my friend Ilana. Then ended up with my other best friend’s number. Then turned out to be friends with my friend TJ from summer camp.

One time I literally ran into a boy on my floor Freshman year who was drunk and wearing a sombrero. When I looked up I was staring at the same boy I’d had a huge crush on when I was ten years old. Only now he was even more attractive…and taller…and damn you, UMass.

Last semester a girl sat down next to me in my Journalism class. When we turned to look at each other our jaws dropped to the floor. It was my friend Emma. I hadn’t seen her in seven years. We went to school together from ages five to fourteen but I hadn’t heard a word from her since we graduated eighth grade.

All three of us now go to Umass. And, yes, that is me creeping in the background looking fly AF

It seems that no matter where I turn, I am running into more people from the Central MA area. UMass is where worlds collide. My best friend from high school lived on a floor with several of my elementary school best friends, and my summer camp friends are all connected with my freshman year floor mates, and sometimes it’s not a good thing. Some people I thought I had successfully run away from when I chose not to go to my district’s high school, but UMass made sure I’d have the chance to see them one more time. Or one hundred more times.

But, what can I say, it’s the sacrifices we’re willing to make to go to such an awesome school. Plus, some of us have grown up into some pretty cool people. Last semester I reconnected with old friends who, like me, were nothing like they had once been.