We treat friendship like background music: comforting, constant, easily taken for granted. Yet friendship is the architecture holding most of us upright. It shapes us, steadies us, reminds us who we are when everything else feels unsteady. And still, with the people who show up for us most consistently, we hesitate to offer the simplest words: I love you.

By Caleb Garcia | Photographer & Sam Gassaway | Photographer

Everybody talks about homesickness in regard to the holidays. Still, not enough people discuss the dread many students face when returning home that comes not because of poor familial relationships, but because of the loss of identity many experience.

College isn’t supposed to be an echo chamber; it’s meant to be a testing ground. The goal isn’t to argue louder, it’s to argue better. Listening, asking questions and speaking your beliefs without shutting someone else down are all traits that will help us improve our identity.