Courageous, creative, and compassionate. The three perfect adjectives to describe the pie to my apple. I have been best friends with Camille Basa since 3rd grade and could not have ever asked for a better best friend. The best thing about Camille is that she is one of those people that cannot be described by words. Her charismatic personality speaks louder than any words ever could.
After 2nd grade, I moved houses and had to go to a new school in a completely different district. Terrified, I dreaded the first day of 3rd grade. In hindsight, it was one of the best days of my life. On the first day of school, I anxiously sat on the rainbow carpet in the corner, worrying about if I was going to fit in and make new friends. My incredible teacher, Mr. Potthoff introduced me and the other new student to my class and asked if anyone would like to show me around campus. Immediately, Camille raised her hand. I looked at her and thought “wow she is really tall.” Standing around 5’2 as an eight year old girl, I was immediately curious about her. Together we walked outside of the cold class into the fresh warm air, where she showed me to the most important spot in the entire school: the bathrooms. Laughing, we made our way back to class and went our separate ways.
As weeks passed, we slowly started becoming closer and closer. I vividly remember the activity that truly weaved the string of our friendship–quite literally. To help us better connect as a class, Mr. Potthoff introduced to us a very peculiar activity. Handing my classmate a ball of bright red yarn, he told them to say the name of another classmate, throw them the ball of yarn, and hold onto the end of the yarn of string. Eventually, the yarn ball was thrown to me and as I scanned my eyes across unfamiliar faces one stood out: Camille. I called out her name and threw her the yarn. She smiled at me. At that exact moment, our friendship had been strung together.
Ever since then, we have been BBFF’s (bestest best friends forever). Although she now goes to Prospect, we still text every single day and constantly facetime. Watching her grow into the person she has become today has truly been an honor. I am always proud to tell everyone about Camille because she is one of a kind. She manages to always put a smile on anyone’s face which I greatly admire about her. Without her, I would have become a completely different person. She has changed me for the better and I will always be thankful for her.