Alyssa Jean Dempsey

STATS
Full Name: Alyssa Jean Dempsey
DOB: June 16th, 1992
Nickname(s): Danger
FB Relationship Status: In a Relationship (with David Atkins, bass guitarist for MCE)
Current Residence: NYC; New York University
Major: Anthropology; minors: Music Business, Spanish
Pokemon she is most like: Snorlax 


Alyssa JDanger Dempsey has been my best friend since approx. the end of my freshman year/ the start of sophomore year of high school. Freshman year I was the "new girl" (a nickname that's stuck with me five years later) and was lucky enough to score into the honors classes. My soon-to-be bff and future class Valedictorian shared 5th period study hall, Spanish II, and 7th period gym with me and we soon bonded over teasing Jessie Maynard about his 7th grade girlfriend (STILL WEIRD) and how much we were creeped out by our third Spanish teacher that year, Señior Willy. The year closed out with many drawings of unicorns in my binders/ yearbook and an invitation to Alyssa's 15th birthday party at Crystal Beach, sealing the deal on our new friendship. Though Alyssa planned to spend the majority of her summer at soccer camps and in Maryland with her dad, I was confident that we'd stay in touch and our new friendship would survive the summer.

The next year brought us closer as friends when Alyssa gained a few brain cells and joined the Indoor and Outdoor Track teams. As the only female distance runners, our friendship blossomed over the many long runs Dave and Kent sent us out on (okay we mostly jogged... walked). A few of these runs were pretty epic, birthing both Alyssa's nickname (Danger) and the "free style fun run" - an event comprising the distance of your choice in which the runner's gain points not based on their speed, but on the complex/ingenuity/coolness of the tricks they preform as they run (it'll make the Olympics one day, you'll see).

Junior and Senior years were a blur of driver's licenses, track meets, fundraisers, proms, AP tests, and college applications, acceptances, and decisions, but one thing in my life remained constant: my friendship with Alyssa. She was always there for me whenever I needed someone to talk to because I was stressed out over school or track or even the poor decisions made by our other friends. I honestly don't know how I would have made it out alive and my sanity intact without her by my side. 

Though we decided to go in opposite directions for college (literally - Alyssa went south to NYC; I went north to Colchester), our friendship still remained as strong as ever. We both went through a lot freshman year. As a high school senior, you look forward to college and life on your own, but you don't realize until later that college means a making new friends and a new home in a foreign city, challenging classes, and sometimes, the loss of past friendships (in this case temporarily, thankfully). I personally struggled a lot with homesickness, missing both my family and close friends from home, which led to me gaining of the dreaded freshmen 15. Alyssa, however, didn't judge me and was there whenever I needed someone to talk to. I, too, tried to do my best to be there for her when she had a brief falling out with one of our closest friends. We also both supported each other through our wish to refrain from using alcohol and drugs; something you don't think will be hard to say no to until you actually reside on a college campus and are constantly surrounded by the pressure to fit in. These struggles and the fact that we overcame them together though we were 400 miles apart prove to me how strong our friendship really is. I'm confident that we'll remain friends through college and beyond... <3 We'll always have 4th of July!

"The only unsinkable ship is friendship."