We sit in a circle in the auditorium, and we are silent. Two ideas are up in the air, but neither of them good enough – neither of them funny enough. I look around at the familiar faces of people I barely knew sitting on my right and left. I don’t know these peers well enough to be comfortable sharing my opinions. How is anything going to get done?

“Maybe we can do a sketch about Mr. Shpall taking over for Dr. Powell!”

“Or we can do a sketch about being dress coded.”

We have nothing. Soon, days turn into weeks and weeks turn into months, and still we have no idea what to do.

When we were freshmen, JagTV was everything. I remember anxiously waiting for each episode to premiere with the intention of laughing until my stomach started to ache. The cast consisted of seniors, and I was intimidated by their clever humor and motivation to work together to create something.

Before I even knew it, I was a senior, and I was chosen to be in JagTV. There was a legacy to uphold, and it just didn’t feel like this group was going to be able to get anything done.

Then, we began working on episode one. Two simple ideas turned into four, and then six, and then twelve. A Google Doc was filled with humor, but I was still not completely comfortable with the group around me, so I hesitantly contributed to the script. Slowly, the episode was coming together nicely, but we needed something to really make people laugh. Finally we came up with the perfect idea: Mean tweets. The idea was brilliant.

Every member of the group worked endlessly to create the perfect episode. Noa Getzug, Zach Fallas, Miller Friedman, Noah Camras, Rachel Stubington, Jared Shapiro, Adam Shoenfeld, and I were making progress on the episode. Before the first episode premiered, this group of eight individuals had not yet connected.

The first episode was extremely successful. There were way more laughs than we intended, and we all realized that we could do this.

On to episode two. This episode had to be all that the first episode was and more. Writing was much easier this time. We learned what worked, and what didn’t; what would get laughs, and what the audience didn’t understand. JagTV18’s second episode was an even larger hit than the first.

Directly after it premiered, students from all grades approached cast members to inform us how funny we were. It was incredible to think that we were capable of bringing joy and laughter to the students of our school.

Then, something magnificent happened. The eight of us bonded. Not only did we begin to work together as one whole group instead of eight individuals, we actually enjoyed spending time together. Meetings after school, lunches, Crazy Eights, pictures, and cake, we became our own little circle of friends. Not just a circle of friends, but a family.

Peers that I had never talked to before this year were becoming my best friends because of JagTV. Now, I have way more friends than I could have ever wanted, and it kills me that I only got close with these inspiring young men and women at the end of senior year.

Creating the third episode was bittersweet for our cast. Although we were devastated to know that these may be some of the last moments our new circle of friends will be able to be together for a very long time, we enjoyed every single moment.

As Noa Getzug reflects on this year’s JagTV experience she describes our meetings as “something to look forward to every single day.”

“Throughout a hectic week, I always know I have something exciting to work on with my closest friends. It’s also an outlet for creativity in a space that sometimes feels so bland.”

Similarly, Jared Shapiro agreed. “It has brought me super close with people who I wasn’t close to before and I love that I was able to make such amazing and genuine connections with new people in my final year of high school.”

Noah Camras reported, “I’ve have had so much fun filming with everyone, getting to know everyone, and making new friendships that will last forever. I know that people will always remember us as the cast that brought JagTV back and hope that people appreciate JagTV because of all the work we put into it.”

Now we sit in the media lab without a moment of silence. Laughter, joy, and friendship fills the air, as JagTV 18’s era will sadly soon come to an end. But with this ending emerged a circle of friends: a family that we will never forget.