TCNJ

20 The College of New Jersey Magazine Going the distance Camila Guayasamin and Ashauna Francis "Whenever we are together, we just laugh," says Ashauna about being pals with Camila. Their friendship, initially sparked by a conversation in a Zoom chat, faced the ultimate test when, as juniors, the two studied abroad on different continents, with an eight- hour time difference between them. With Camila in Italy and Ashauna in Chile, they sent each other voice memos over texts, detailing their adventures to each other like personalized podcast episodes. They say no matter where they go next, they will find a way to share their lives with each other. "We're past the possibility of this friendship fading," says Camila. Thanks to our friends at Mexican Mariachi Grill (p. 14), Teamalaya Bubble Tea (above), and Slocum's Bowling (p. 21) for being part of our photo shoot. " We're past the possibility of this friendship fading." Psyching each other up James Chiriboga and Jazailis Gual James urged his good friend Jazailis to run for Lion Royalty Homecoming Court last fall. He had already applied himself, but Jazailis was on the fence about it. "It just made sense to me," says James. "She's friendly, she's well known across campus. I said, 'Girl, you need to apply.'" She did. And when she won, she paused, waiting to hear who else would be named a winner. "When they said James, I ran to him, and we ended up walking together to get crowned," she says. "We couldn't believe it." It shouldn't have been too much of a surprise, though. These two had been encouraging each other and getting involved in many of the same things since they first met in an online psychology class their freshman year. "We bonded over the fact that we didn't really know what we were doing in that class," says Jazailis. "We'd have individual side chats on Zoom and we'd ask each other, 'Does this make sense to you?' I never felt alone in that class, because James was there." Once on campus, they seemingly shared parallel lives. They kept bumping into each other at campus events. They both attended a leadership program through the LeaderShape Institute, and they worked in residential education. "We were finding ourselves in the same exact spaces without really telling each other we'd be there," says Jazailis. They both went for a run one morning — "at like 5 a.m.," says James — and there the other was. "We both want to be successful and we're both really driven," says Jazailis. "I really admire that about James, and he challenges me in that same way."

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