Isabella Lagarto, William Albury

The shift from high school to college marks the end of childhood and the beginning of adulthood. An unfortunate truth about this shift is that one inevitably ends up leaving many of the connections they have catered to throughout their high school years. However, for some, their friendship may end up lasting a lifetime, as they take on this new life journey together as best friends.

For Miami Palmetto Senior High seniors Zulyene Jimenez and Lizy Garcia, the University of Miami bound duo found each other during their freshman year through their online English class on Zoom. Since then, they have been inseparable.

“We met in Ms. Meyers’ class, but we were on Zoom because … [of the] pandemic. Lizy saw me in the class and asked our teacher, ‘Hey Ms. Meyers, can you put Zuly in my breakout room with me? I want her to be my partner for the assignment,’ and then Ms. Meyers texted me like on the little side [chat] that ‘Lizy wants to work with you, is that okay?’ I was like, ‘Sure,’ and then we didn’t even work. We just started chit-chatting for the whole hour,” Jimenez said. “Then we exchanged numbers and then we Facetimed for like another three hours … We just kept a friendship like that. We became like best friends … When we finally went back to school in sophomore year we [were] inseparable.”

Throughout high school, the pair remained best friends, but when it came time for college as the topic of discussion, both Garcia and Jimenez had their hearts and dreams set on attending their top choice college together: the University of Miami.

“UM was always at the top of our list. We both really wanted to go, and I feel like we were really hoping and praying that we would get in,” Garcia said.

In efforts to make their dream a reality, the two did everything they could to prioritize attending UM, including applying together, working equally as hard, and also holding lots of hope in their hearts that everything would work out the way they both wanted.

“We both wanted to stay in Miami. And both of us really, really wanted UM as a first pick. We both were already in FIU so we were just waiting on UM … We were praying together because we did the exact same thing, like the exact same application at the same time, same everything … I remember … just praying together like ‘It’s okay, and hopefully we get in, this is gonna happen for us — we can meet together and we can go to school together. We both really wanted to be together. We thought it would be fun, so if one of us didn’t get in, I feel like we would have not been as happy, we would have been a little bit sad,” Jimenez said.

Unknowingly to the pair that their UM decisions would come out the very next day, the two recalled sharing a moment of hope in discussing their futures and where they would end up if they did or did not get in. However, both shared faith that their futures would all work out in the end.

“The day before decisions came out — I actually didn’t calculate when it was going to come out. They don’t say when, but they say late February. We hung out the day before I thought that it was supposed to come out and I said ‘You know, this is gonna work out for us’ [But, we were] discussing what we would do if we didn’t get in together. But I feel like we both felt like we were gonna get in and go. It was just really sweet — it was at the Falls. We were at Mr. Bean, sitting on the couch just talking about it,” Garcia said.

In answering their wishes, the news of their application status change came to them on the same day, with Garcia checking her application first, and excitedly contacting her best friend to check her portal that very same moment. Luckily, the moment resulted in what many incoming college freshmen wait their whole lives to see: “You have been accepted!”

“We basically screamed, we were so happy,” Garcia said.

The moment came with many tears of joy, as well.

“I almost started crying. I was  just in so much joy. We started crying,” Jimenez said.

In entering their new upcoming adult lives, the two share lots of excitement for what is to come for their future, including the many activities and opportunities college has to offer them.

“I think we’ve already talked about some stuff that we want to do. We talked about getting lunch on campus together, and walking with each other to classes. We’re really excited for the first couple of days of just figuring out where each other are. We literally talked about making a little map [to navigate around school],” Jimenez said.

Jimenez plans to major in finance and Garcia in health science.

On the other hand, another best friend duo, Daniela Martinez and Alejandra Lopez, have committed to set out to Florida State University together.

The two, similar to Jimenez and Garcia, founded a long-lasting friendship through Meyers’ class in their freshmen year.

“We had Meyers together, and we sat next to each other … I needed to borrow markers, and [Lopez] had a full pouch, and she just gave me the whole package … After that I had no one to sit with at lunch because everyone was quarantined. So, I just went up to her and was like, ‘Hey, can I sit with you?’ Then after that we became best friends,” Martinez said. “We also bonded through music.”

When starting the college application process, FSU sat on different parts of their college list. For Martinez, she had the college high on her list, but not as a first choice. For Lopez, however, FSU felt like a home away from home.

“It was my top, I really wanted to go there. When I went to the college tour, I noticed how the school was just — it felt like home … I literally walked there and when we were together, she was talking and I was just by myself the whole time wandering, looking at the school, admiring it,” Lopez said.

Like any college application, the status update came with plenty of nerves and anxiety but soon turned into a rush of excitement.

“I FaceTimed her because I thought I wasn’t gonna in at all…I prepared myself because I’m not the type of person to be like, ‘Yes, I’m going to go, this is going to happen.’ No — I have to [have a] 50/50 [mindset] … I don’t want to hurt myself in the end,” Lopez said. “I waited, and then I see ‘your application status has been updated,’ so I started freaking out, I [opened the application] by myself. Then I saw the confetti, and I was like ‘no way,’ and I was waiting for [Daniela].”

The moment Lopez contacted her friend, the pair had a funny misunderstanding as Martinez originally believed that her friend’s tears were a product of a college rejection.

‘I didn’t originally ask her if she got in … I was like ‘Oh my God, if she hasn’t told me, that means she didn’t get in,’ and I don’t want to make her [feel bad],” Martinez said.

The moment, however, quickly shifted into tears of happiness.

“So, then I FaceTimed her, and I was bawling my eyes out, and then she thought I didn’t get in. Her and her mom started freaking out like ‘Oh no, did she get in, did she get in?’ and then you just hear [Daniela] go ‘stop, stop, leave her alone,’ and then I turned my camera around and she saw that I got in, and we started screaming,” Lopez said.

Martinez surprised Lopez a few months later, letting her know that she committed to FSU and would be attending alongside her.

“[I’m most excited for] the memories that we’re gonna make there together, it’s going to be so different from here — the environment … We’re gonna be living adult life, be more social, [see] games, events, it’s all exciting,” Lopez said.

Martinez, similar to Lopez, finds excitement in meeting new people in a new space.

“[I’m excited to be] independent…also [finding] new friends and just the whole social aspect of [college],” Martinez said.

At FSU, Martinez plans to major in biology on a pre-med track, and Lopez plans to major in biology as well.