During Valentine’s week, relationships are sparking left and right. No matter the relationship, communication is key so that both partners know what they each want out of their relationship. Whether it be a relationship that’s a week-long or one that’s over a year-long, relationships take patience, commitment, and a desire to work through the downs.

Students share advice for maintaining a healthy relationship from their experience.

“Make sure that you show your love for the other person through words of affirmation and gifts. Your significant other will really appreciate it,’’ senior Isabel Amend said. 

Anyone’s day can be brightened up by acts of kindness and doing so will give your partner the reassurance they need. 

“Don’t act cheesy; try to be your most authentic self,’’ freshman Felipe Alvarez said. “You shouldn’t have to change yourself in order for someone else to love you, they should love you for who you are.’’ 

Relationships have the most success when both individuals are being the most real versions of themselves from the very beginning so both partners can see the type of person they’re really dating and decide whether or not it’s someone they want to be with.

“The best relationship advice I could give is to realize that a relationship isn’t going to be all giddy 100 percent of the time; there are going to be arguments and moments where you don’t want to talk to each other,’’ sophomore Alana Burnside said. ‘’You have to learn to fight through the struggles and not just give up on each other the moment things get hard.’’ 

Despite the all-consuming feeling of a new relationship, eventually, arguments come up and most people have the urge to just end the relationship instead of trying to talk it through. Communicating about problems in the relationship may help partners realize what they need to change and can even allow the individuals in the relationship to grasp that they don’t belong with each other long-term. 

“Be as understanding as possible because everyone sees and handles situations in a different way,’’ junior Sophia Colon said. 

Communication is key in relationships and if one partner’s feelings, thoughts, and emotions aren’t expressed effectively to the other person, then the other person won’t always know that something is wrong. However, there are some people who prefer not to be in relationships at all like junior Erik De Kok who chose not to have any at the moment. This allows individuals to focus on themselves in high school without being sidetracked by a relationship.