Seniors Charlie Afman and Keaton Michalski haven’t been friends for long, but now, they can be seen together at almost all times and are well-known for having a strong bromance.
“I originally didn’t like [Charlie] because we had band together in middle school, and he was very loud in that class, and I thought he was obnoxious,” Keaton said.
At first, Keaton stayed away from Charlie, but they finally became friends last year in AP Seminar when they sat with a larger group of guys. This class was the first of many that Keaton and Charlie would share; for instance, they share English again this year with AP Literature. They also have a few clubs in common.
They don’t only hang out in school settings, though; they can also be found taking long walks in the park. While they have a few common activities and classes, they are not overly similar.
“I feel like we honestly don’t have a lot in common,” Keaton said. “We kind of behave the same,” Charlie added. “[But] I’d say our differences [are what make us good friends],” Keaton continued.
Unlike Charlie and Keaton, seniors Vaughn and Zach Cheslek bonded over their similarities in demeanor and activities but not school classes.
Vaughn and Zach are second cousins, which is why they met, but that is not why they are considered a bromance. Both of them play lacrosse, which is how they met in sixth grade; they went to an overnight camp where they shared a room and a four-pound bag of Sour Patch Kids. They first bonded over their only source of sugar and then over their attitude towards others. Now, six years later, they are closer than ever, and their relation to each other doesn’t determine their friendship.
“I [would] say we’re best friends, and we just happen to be second cousins,” Zach said. “I think people aspire to have a bromance as strong as ours or should aspire to if they don’t [already],” Vaughn added.
Many things factor into making a bond as strong as Vaughn and Zach’s: playing the same sport, spending time together, putting each other first, and being emotionally vulnerable together.
Vaughn and Zach are each other’s best friends, and they confide in each other more than anyone else in their lives. Their ability to be emotionally open makes their friendship even stronger.
“We get emotional support [from each other],” Zach said. “We’re very emotional people—emotionally unstable people,” Vaughn added.
Being in a bromance does not have to be all emotions, though. Keaton—who used to find Charlie’s loudness obnoxious—finds he has multiple favorite memories of Charlie, not of times but of his antics.
“Probably my favorite memories of Charlie are not even us hanging out, but just him yelling random [stuff],” Keaton said. “Sometimes, it’s not always the funniest, but it’s just odd, and it could be awkward sometimes, but it’s funny that it will be this spontaneous shout.”
Seniors Matthew Taylor and Brett Comiskey share a bromance bond as well. They became friends in sixth grade when Brett moved here, similar to Vaughn and Zach. They became friends through shared sports and youth groups, and now, they hang out all the time, not just in structured settings. But they have a more structured start to their friendship than Keaton and Charlie’s.
Matthew finds Brett is the person he calls when he wants to do something. They can be seen walking the halls, at football games, skiing, and on the soccer field together. Matthew especially enjoys attending football games with Brett. In fact, one of his favorite memories involves an FHC football game.
“One of my favorite memories is when we decided to make our way to the state semifinal for football while everyone stayed at home with the crappy weather,” Mathew said. “We went, and we watched one of the best football games I’ve ever seen in my life, and it was fun to share that [game] with Brett.”
Matthew and Brett have something important in common with the other bromances: they can be seen together constantly. They walk to class together, and they talk all the time. It could be believed they have been friends since they were very young due to how close they are, but they have been friends for only about seven years. Where they started and where they are now is not that different, but their friendship is stronger now.
Matthew and Brett have survived middle school and almost all of high school together. While their environments have changed, not everything has.
“We haven’t changed a lot,” Matthew said. “It’s just if we do something new; usually, the person I will do something new with is Brett. So we moved on from not just soccer to doing ski team, and we’ll go to all football games together; we’ll do everything together.”
AP U.S. History teacher Steve Labenz and broadcasting teacher Jeff Manders have been friends since Manders was Labenz’s student teacher. They now have their classrooms across the hall from each other, and they keep their friendship alive. They can be seen together in the halls at almost all times. They, like Vaughn and Zach, have many commonalities; like Matthew and Brett, they have not changed much over the past few years, and they are as close as Keaton and Charlie.
“I think we have a lot in common,” Labenz said. “I mean, he was on TV, and I was on the radio. So we have some commonality with broadcasting and some of the same types of stories: the long hours and the low pay and things like that. I think we connected very quickly.”
Both Labenz and Manders were involved in some sort of broadcasting before going back to school to become history teachers. They bonded over similar experiences, hobbies, their love of Seinfeld, and music. Their shared interests make their friendship simple and easy.
This is Labenz’s last year teaching at FHC and being across the hall from his bromance partner Manders, and he would not want it any other way. The student bromances are also thankful for being able to spend their high school years with their friends, growing and changing together. The friendships made in the halls of FHC are immensely valuable. From teacher to student bromances, they are all important.
“If this is my last year,” Labenz said, “[I’m] really grateful and thankful that I’ve had some really good relationships as I’ve been here.”
