Dear Margo, Rita, and Curtis,
I don’t really know what to do. There’s only a couple weeks left in the school year and there are so many people on campus that I wished I had talked to earlier in the year. If I don’t have any classes or extracurriculars with these people what should I do?
In desperate need of help,
friendlygal101
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Hi friendlygal101,
As the school year dwindles down to its final days, we are hitting friendship cuffing szn, the magical time in which we all finally crave the human interaction that the winter term has robbed us of. No matter what time of the year it is, the best way to make a new friend at Deerfield is to put yourself out there and take a risk — show your friend of interest your true personality. I am sure they will embrace you for being who you are. If spewing confidence and exposing your true self seems like too grand of a feat for only a couple weeks of opportunity, here are some specific ways to show someone that you truly care:
1. Check your potential friend’s schedule on DAinfo. Wait outside their classroom after every class period to walk them to their next building. Who needs to be on time to class when you’re in pursuit of a new friendship?
2. Attend your friend of interest’s extra curricular events with posters of encouragement for them. A friendly face in the crowd is always appreciated.
3. Write a song inspired by Nick Jonas’s “Introducing Me” and perform it for your potential friend to let them in on your quirkier side. “If you wanna know here it goes…” I own a guitar so hit me up if an instrumentalist is necessary.
Face-to-face human interaction can be awkward. We know this. Take it from a girl who face planted onto the dining hall floor in front of the entire population of the school during sitdown dinner last week. So, if my above suggestions are all too far out of your comfort zone, there are plenty of other ways to show someone you want to get to know them! Try any of the following 3 S’s:
1. Send them cupcakes with a note signed, “Just because. Love, You know who ;)”
2. Slip a note under your desired friend’s door on a nightly basis to let them know you’re thinking about them.
3. Slide into their Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, Myspace, Linkedin, Canvas, Club Penguin, or Kik DMs to ask how their day is going. Repeat this every day. Consistency is key.
Finally, if all else fails, find a common interest or a mutual friend, and go out of your way to be warm and friendly. Odds are other people are hoping to make some new friends too.
You can bond over watermelon lemonades at the river or spikeball games after sitdown; with people coming out of the winter term hibernation the possibilities are endless. But, I still recommend the DM slide. It’s never failed me.
Moral of the story: Be creepy. Goes a long way, I promise.
Best of luck. You got this.
Rock on,
Margo, Rita, and Curtis