Lamar students tackle high school relationships

At Lamar, students from different grade levels are dating. While some work out, others aren’t so lucky. 

Most relationships between high school students are due to growing adolescence. Students gain feelings toward one another and they want to act on it. However, just because students feel these types of  feelings doesn’t always mean that they are mature enough to pursue the relationships. 

“I don’t think high school relationships last, they don’t know what they’re doing and neither did I,” senior Dayanara Castillo said.

“I think they’re very hit or miss really, usually most people don’t even know what they want in somebody,” senior Bryan Sosa said. “It’s usually like, ‘Oh, I get along with somebody, let’s see how far we can take it.’ But, it’s never something really that serious.”

The class rank of a student can also factor in whether or not that student is old enough to realize their surroundings and act upon them accordingly.

“It’s delicate. There needs to be boundaries as to what age is appropriate because different individuals mature at different rates,” Lamar counselor Mariana Quintana said. “I think early on, it should be supervised by parents obviously.”

Castillo agrees that older high school students are more mature and can handle relationships better.

“I think with freshmen, they just don’t know what they’re doing and with seniors, they’re about to get ready to be an adult, so they know what they’re doing,” Castillo said. 

Sosa said when he  was a sophomore or freshman, he just wanted somebody to talk to, but not something really serious.

“It was kind of cool just having somebody to call your girlfriend rather than something really serious,”  Sosa said.

There have been some  high school relationships that survive the odds and are pretty healthy and thriving

“I know some people who have started dating freshman year and they’re still going strong now,” Sosa said. 

Quintana said she has seen successful high school relationships, but sometimes they don’t last.

“I have witnessed healthy high school relationships and a few, far between that grow beyond high school,” Quintana said.

Some people believe high school relationships can have negative influences and in other cases, positive influences. There is no definite answer about whether or not students should date in high school. It is different for everyone.

“I don’t know that there’s ever an absolute answer because we are humans. Every human is different,” Quintana said. “What works for one may not work for another. I don’t think there’s a one fits all answer.”

Sosa suggests that students ponder what they want from a relationship before jumping into one.

“I guess if you’re going to date, it’s best to  just really take into consideration what you really want from that person,” Sosa said.