Hi Clay!!

Its Nia.

I guess you are getting letters from family members during your retreats so I thought I would write one too. 8th grade!! Wow, you’re getting old lol. I don’t really know what to write. We are both in similar situations now. Both of us are dealing with the fact that basically all of our friends go to different schools now. My friends are off at different colleges and your friends are in the upper school. It’s rough, trust me I know. But in the past few days here at Oberlin, I’ve learned that just hanging out with people is kinda fun. I haven’t found my “squad” yet, but, I’ll hang out with whatever groups I do find. I go out for ice cream with a few people or to the dining halls. Everyone I’ve hung out with probably won’t be my friends but I’ve had fun hanging out with them. I’ve learned some cool things from them. And maybe one of them will end up being my “crew” which would be awesome! I know aren’t really friends with a lot of the people in your grade but maybe hang out with them every now and then. See what they know and are interested in that they can teach you. Also, summer is a pretty long amount of time. Maybe some of them have grown and matured. Be open to giving people second chances.So, yeah. That’s kinda all the advice I have to give. Stay in contact with and hang out with your 9th grade friends but also try to get to know the other 8th graders (or maybe even some of the 7th graders).

Miss you!

Love you,

Nia