When heading into high school, most people wonder what their friendships will be like. With over 1,600 students at Barlow, it’s common for friendships to shift for better or worse. Two 2026 seniors who have experienced this in their time at Barlow are Leila Mokan and Yanna Ovcharenko.
Freshman year is known to be a socially uncertain time because of so many new people you’ve never met becoming your classmates, and friendships are quickly made. For Mokan and Ovcharenko, this was the exact case: they met in advisory in their first week of high school. Mokan explained, “At first, we weren’t super close, but then we started sitting next to each other in class. After that, we began eating lunch together, and it just grew from there.” While in school, they began to grow closer together, bonding not only over classwork but also in their personal lives and interests. One major bonding point they made together is their love for Dutch Bros, where Mokan said, “We became inseparable, especially over Dutch Bros, which we go to all the time.” With small steps taken daily in their relationship-building, Ovcharenko and Mokan now live together and are a perfect example of a forever friendship that began with a simple invitation to sit next to each other. They’ve been supporting each other for the last four years through all the trials they’ve each experienced, Ovcharenko told us. “She’s been my rock ever since we became best friends, and now we even live together. I just love how close we’ve become, and I know we’ll always be there for each other,” she explained. As their senior year comes to an end, a lot of uncertainty lies ahead, but they will always be there for each other and have someone to rely on, no matter what.
