By Jett

Ilwaco High School, Ilwaco, Washington
Ever since I was young, I have been scared of meeting new people and talking in front of a crowd. When I transferred to a new elementary school, nobody knew me, and I had trouble making friends.
One day, I was hanging out at recess, playing a game, when I met someone I immediately connected with, Milo. We began talking about games and discovered we had a lot in common. We started hanging out at recess, playing together, and always ran to the swings first thing when it started, talking and trying to see how high we could go. I had a lot of fun when we hung out together playing these games. After a while, we exchanged phone numbers and began playing games together at home, like Roblox, Fortnite and VR, which was also really fun.
After this, we talked about new games every day, and what we were going to do when we got home. We even scheduled a time when we got on the game. As we talked about which game we wanted to play, we thought about cool games we saw coming out. Through him, I also met his other friends, who were really kind, and I also had a really good connection with them, because he introduced me to this whole new group of people. As a result, we all began playing games, sending each other TikToks, I even have a 400-day streak with one of my friends, hanging out together, and having just a wonderful time together.
This experience has had a big impact on me, and it has even motivated me to put more effort into making friends and meeting new people. Even now, I continue to expand my social circle, meeting people who have helped me grow and try new things. They even inspired me to take up sports again, even though I haven't done it in a while, and they are always willing to help me with stuff like work and learning new things. In class, my teachers always try to help us be more confident when speaking in front of crowds and learning about other people's lives that I have not interacted with.
Thanks to these interactions, I've become more comfortable with meeting new people. Although I still feel a little bit shy when introducing myself, I will always try to make an effort to connect with others.
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