For many, high school is a place to have first experiences, relationships being one of them. Being full of people still discovering their identity, some have felt that trying to find love in a developing environment is difficult. Washington is sometimes referred to as unfriendly, possibly contributing to what feels like a decline in dating in high school. Regardless, love remains in the air and some students offer their experiences and opinions.

Junior Jasmine Hampton* (she/her) said she’s been dating her boyfriend since her freshman year, and that she believes maturity plays a strong role in a lasting high school relationship. Both she and her boyfriend came into the relationship knowing they wanted something serious rather than casual. Hampton said that many people are surprised that she has managed to stay in such a long-term relationship.

“It doesn’t seem like, ‘Oh, how could I stay with this person for so long?’ It’s just like, ‘I couldn’t imagine not being with him,’” Hampton said.

Although Hampton said the two of them have been dating for so long and are very open about their relationship, she said that she personally prefers to limit the amount of PDA (public display of affection) between her and her partner. Regarding other people in relationships, she mentioned that people tend to have different attitudes towards PDA in different environments, but that she would rather not see anything too excessive at school.

“Different couples have different ways to approach how they want to mix how they are by themselves and how they are at school,” she said.

Senior Ian Yang (he/him) has similar opinions regarding PDA. Yang said he believes it’s best in moderation and that PDA tends to make others uncomfortable, which isn’t something he would want, especially at school. 

“I don’t want to see people cuddling with each other, getting on top of each other or making out. Like I said, holding hands — it’s fine — but I just think [excessive PDA] makes other people uncomfortable,’’ Yang said. 

While Yang and Hampton gave similar opinions regarding it, Hampton says that as an upperclassman, she has noticed a decline in relationships. Hampton says that the formation of cliques makes people feel like they know who they would be compatible with. Hampton said she thinks this makes it difficult for people to begin relationships later in high school. 

“It’s not like there’s new pools of people. I feel like at this point, if there were things that people wanted or people that people liked, that was in freshman year, when they first were starting to get to know each other. And now at this point, it’s like: ‘Oh, our friend or our friends wouldn’t match,’” Hampton said.

Similarly, Senior Billie Higgins* (she/her) described the dating scene as sparse, due to the amount of long-term relationships. Higgins has never been in a relationship and doesn’t plan to get into one during senior year.

“Everyone’s been together since freshman year. No one breaks up. No one does anything. There’s no new relationship from two Inglemoor students ever,” Higgins said. “You always date outside of the bubble.”

Higgins said that especially for seniors, students are less inclined to date when there’s pressure from colleges and their own futures ahead of them.

“I feel like there’s a decline in actual relationships. People don’t get into a committed relationship these days,” Higgins said. “But that could also just be because we’re all just seniors in high school. I never see someone right now getting into a fresh relationship.”

Yang said he has only dated students from other schools. He’s grown up with many students at Inglemoor since elementary school and thinks that dating someone from another school is preferable. 

“Two reasons why: having kind of a novel experience, and then the fact that you might see each other if anything goes wrong within the relationship,” Yang said.

Unlike Higgins, Yang thinks Inglemoor has a small amount of long-term relationships. He believes students should focus on their friends, education and enjoy their youth in high school. Yang said that dating isn’t necessary to the high school experience.

“It’s kind of like successes and failures. You make mistakes, and you learn from them, and you find who you really are compatible with and who you aren’t. I feel like in general, the dating scene here is more of a kind of a learning experience for people in the process,” Yang said.

Social media can also pressure students to have a romanticized view of high school relationships. However, Yang said that Generation Z doesn’t understand the commitment that a serious relationship requires. 

“I don’t think there’s anything wrong with serious relationships, because I definitely think if you can find someone you really like and that you have a really strong connection with, I definitely think that relationship could work and could be worth it,” Yang said. “However, I personally just don’t believe it’s the most necessary thing, and I don’t think that students should go out of their way to be something serious.”