High school. A time of insecurities and confused identities summed up by one too many extracurricular activities, AP classes, and tests. It is in high school that we often find ourselves figuring out who we truly are, and what is more important is that friendships and social circles shape our high school experience.

For me, my high school friendships have brought me my true and closest friends who understand me outside of school, know my deepest secrets, and grew up with me through the teenage years. With many memories and countless moments of laughter, I could not imagine not being around them as we went our separate ways in college. Some of us – like me – attended college out of state while others stayed close to home. As I now look back on my college years, I am grateful to have maintained such close relationships with my high school gals, proving long distance friendships are truly possible.

There is always the question, “how do you maintain strong relationships with your high school friends in college and beyond?" The answer is simple.

Modern technologies such as social media and video chats have made it easier to stay connected with friends and family from anywhere in the world. Halfway through senior year of high school, my friends and I created our own Facebook private group. At first, the page was used to plan nights out and coordinate events like prom and senior week, but after graduation, we just kept the page as a way to stay in touch throughout college. Our own private page allowed us to post encouraging messages to each other during midterms and finals week, share funny memes with inside jokes, and create plans for when we returned home during winter and spring breaks.

Not only that, but Skype became another great medium. Through Skype, we video called one another every once in a while to catch up with our lives. Sure, there are a couple of downsides to using Skype; that is, Skype limits the amount of people on a single call and does not always work with limited Wi-Fi and Internet.

Of course, my friends and I sometimes communicated the old-fashioned way – handwritten cards and letters. I would say these were my favorite, although, I was pretty bad at keeping up with it (sorry, friends!). At the beginning of each semester, my friends and I would exchange our dorm and apartment addresses so we could write to each other and send goodies.

Now, as we transition to adulthood and come across special moments in our lives, I can only see our decade-long friendship growing through the efforts we take to cherish it. So take some time today to forge stronger relationships and maintain the ones you already have before moving forward.