A group of seniors this year have been friends since childhood, introducing: Selma Mawazini, Rebecca Kozlowski, Janie Lennon, Maya Saad, Emerson Swider, Tia Tonelli, Rylie Okulich, Ainsley Ohman, Chloe Kraus, Ava Fleming and Brooke Hotts.
Their tight-knit friend group has known each other since Kindergarten, and some before then. According to Tia Tonelli, growing up without sisters, “they have been like [the] sisters” she’s never had. They are all so different, yet similar, it is a “mix of every single type of person [one] could imagine.” The friendships helped to instill core values in Tonelli such as her sense of humor.
According to Ainsley Ohman, the friendships have made her “understand trust better, and be able to form better relationships” while simultaneously placing value on the relationships.
When they were younger, the girls found each other in a plethora of different ways: from family friends, to school, sports or even neighbors. But Rylie Okulich in particular remembers her first time meeting Selma Mawazini in 6th grade at Boulan Park Middle School. Okulich saw Mawazini crying, then sat with her at lunch that day. One small action caused those girls and in term the group “to become inseparable” from one another ever since.
Another nostalgia memory shared by Rebecca Kozlowski and Maya Saad was “playing 4-square at recess” at Schroeder Elementary School.
Janie Lennon recalled doing “lemonade stands in the summer almost everyday” with Kozlowski, her neighbor.
On the other hand, Brooke Hotts and Tia Tonelli did not go to Boulan Park Middle School like the rest of the girls, so they found the group different ways. According to Hotts, “soccer definitely helped us all become really close,” in addition to Beachwood Swim Club where they would spend a lot of time together in the summer, “almost everyday.”
When looking back on high school years, Saad described the best memories as “Sleepovers before the first day or school” or “The first day of summer.”
Tonelli agreed, sharing a particular memory of the first day of summer after junior year. A day where they went up to a cottage, and “swam,…tanned the whole day… and had dance parties on the boat.” Tonelli narrated it as, “the best time with the people we all love the most.”
The girls have been together through thick and thin. From Ainsley Ohman’s earliest memories of the girls being ballet class with Emerson Swider, Rebecca Kozlowski and Janie Lennon before Kindergarten, to now, all the girls unified winning the talent show this year as graduating seniors.
According to Selma Mawazini “They’ve made me the person who I am today, I don’t know where I would be without them.”
Brooke Hotts commented “I’m never alone, my heart is so full.” As the girls plan their departure from Troy High School and each other, they know they’ll never truly leave each other.
In Chloe Kraus’s words, “we’ll stay friends and continue to see each other over break.”
