Choosing The Right Friends

Choosing the Right Friends (1:50)

“There are basically two types of people: those who bring you up and those who bring you down. People who bring you up are people who believe in your confidence, support your activities, basically are there for you. People who want to bring you down want to keep you in a little box. They don’t want you to grow. They don’t want you to learn. They don’t want you to expand. They don’t want you to be you. And I think you know which column you want to hang out with.”

Role models in order of appearance: April Watson, Ella Peinovich, Makeda Keegan, Jessica Buchleitner, and Mercedes Gibson.

Quick Start

1) The video explains that choosing friends should be about more than “who you sat next to on the first day” of school. This means that you should be deliberate about making friends instead of simply leaving it to chance. What steps have you taken in the past to choose good friendships for yourself? What can you do in the future to ensure that you surround yourself with good friends?

2) In the video, listeners learn that real friends “push you to try harder.” Sometimes, it may be uncomfortable when someone holds you to high standards. How have your friends supported you or pushed you to try harder in the past? How did you feel?

3) You heard someone in the video say, “Who you are friends with and the values and characteristics that they embody will become the values and characteristics that you embody.” This means that the people you choose to be friends with shape your life and your experiences. How have your friends influenced you? Have these influences always been positive?

4) You learned in the video that it is important to be intentional when you select friends because good friends support you and encourage you to do your best. What could happen if someone is surrounded by unhealthy friendships? How might their life be different if they surrounded themselves with positive friendships?

5) Multiple role models described how good friends are supportive and encouraging. Good friends can help you through hardships and offer advice. What great challenges have you faced in your life, and how did your friends support you? Have you ever supported a friend through a challenge?

6) The speakers in the video explain many of the qualities of a good friend. What qualities do you think a good friend has? C

Video Transcript

You’re at this age where some friends are just by virtue of your surroundings. But you also have the opportunity to really see if that person resonates with you, if you’re on the same page, if they’re encouraging to you, if you can encourage them, if they’re going to push you to try harder, if they’re going to let you know if you’re doing the wrong thing and don’t be afraid to say, “You know what? This might not be the best idea.” A good friend is an honest friend.

So it’s not necessarily about who you were sat next to the first day. But make it about who it is you think shares the same values and has a positive attitude in life, because it’s really important to surround yourself with positive people who want to create and do new things and creative things in life. You’re going to have a lot more fun than someone who’s negative, who you feel like you might have to hide your fears from.

There are basically two types of people: those who bring you up and those who bring you down. People who bring you up are people who believe in your confidence, support your activities, basically are there for you. People who want to bring you down want to keep you in a little box. They don’t want you to grow. They don’t want you to learn. They don’t want you to expand. They don’t want you to be you. And I think you know which column you want to hang out with.

Who you hang out with, who you are friends with, and the values and characteristics that they embody will become the values and characteristics that you embody.

You deserve to be loved for who you are. You don’t have to pretend to be anyone else. You don’t have to make your hair look different or worry about how much your clothes cost. Because a true friend will love you for exactly who you are, not the things you have or what you can get for them.

Discussion Guide

Independent Learning Guide: This all-purpose guide can be used by educators, parents, and mentors to jumpstart a lively discussion about identifying positive friendships.

Classroom Lesson Plan

Why is it important to choose your friends? Role models in this video share advice on identifying and selecting good quality friendships and the impact these friendships have on your life.

Classroom Lesson Plan: This step-by-step lesson plan is available to guide a more in-depth “before, during, and after” learning experience when viewing the video with students. This lesson plan is also suitable for use in after-school programs and other educational settings.

Empowerment Activities

Use Empowerment Activities as a fun way to reinforce the video topic and build community with your students.

Related Empowerment Activities:

Fun Page Activity

Fun Page Activity: Reflect on healthy friendships and good friendship qualities with this story completion activity. Write endings to stories about friendship challenges and think about your own friendships.