Friendships that begin in elementary school rarely last through high school as people grow and change, but there are a lucky few who can still call their kindergarten buddy their best friend today. As graduation looms, these friends know their bond will stand the test of time.

Elsa Ruggiero and Sydney Jackson

OW: When and where did you two meet?

ER: We met at St. Maria Goretti Catholic School.

SJ: In the bathroom.

ER: No we didn’t! We were in the same class in kindergarten.

SJ: Yeah, but we became friends in the bathroom.

ER: Okay, we met in the classroom and became friends in the bathroom.

SJ: The bathroom’s the important part.

OW: Do you have a favorite childhood memory together?

ER: That time we tried to become witches. We had a book on witchcraft.

SJ: We were going to start a coven together so we could get rid of all our enemies.

ER: Yeah, that was in second grade.

SJ: My favorite memory of Elsa is when she tried out for the soccer team.

ER: I was so hurt!

SJ: I was laughing.

OW: What do you guys have in common?

ER: Well, we hate the same people, we like a lot of the same shows, we still want to start a coven.

SJ: Destroy our enemies…

ER: More on the serious side, though, we both like to read, we like “Pride and Prejudice” and Colin Firth.

SJ: Yeah, we have a lot in common. I mean, we’re friends with each other.

OW: How do you feel like you’ve both changed since elementary school?

ER: I have become much less of a goody-two shoes.

SJ: How did I change? We are both now raging feminists.

ER: That’s true.

SJ: I kind of became comfortable with more people, like meeting new people.

ER: Yeah, Sydney branched out a lot. We both changed a lot.

Madison Gover  and Baylee Higginbotham

OW: When and where did you two meet?

MG: We had the same kindergarten class and we kind of met there except we weren’t really like friends at that time.

BH: We ran around and played and stuff.

OW: Do you have a favorite childhood memory together?

MG: When the Jonas Brothers song “Burnin’ Up” came out. I would spend a lot of time with her during the summer and I had never heard the song before and she turned on the radio and said, ‘You have to listen to this song!’. We were just jamming out so hard and jumping on her bed and singing.

BH: My favorite memory is when we had to go to after school care at the Dottie Lynn Rec Center a lot. She didn’t like to be nice to the counselors and all that. There was one point where our friend was in the gym and Madison drew him this picture and shoved it underneath the door so he could get it and ran back. Then the counselor came up to me and said, ‘I know you drew this, why did you draw this?’. I told him that I didn’t. The picture was of this guy with like googly eyes and it just says, ‘Do you have crack? Give me crack!’. We were in the fifth grade! The counselor kept yelling at me and telling me that I was going to be in so much trouble and Madison is just over there laughing her head off.

OW: Do you two hang out a lot now?

BH: When we can.

MG: Yeah, when we can. It’s hard because high school and stuff. She also has a job because she’s an important member of the workforce now.

BH: Yeah, with my job and school and graduating soon it’s hard. Whenever we have time, though, we try.

OW: What do you have in common?

MG: It’s funny because we don’t have that much in common. The things we do have in common, though, are that we like to read and we both liked to talk about books when we were little. We both also have a weird sense of humor.

BH: Like stuff that other people wouldn’t find that funny. Very dark. We’ll just sit there and laugh about the most ridiculous things for hours.

MG: I think that you don’t have to have a lot of similarities with someone to be their best friend. All that really matters it that you understand them.