Friendship Spotlight: Nick Barella and Joe Schneider
Roxanne Baggot | rbaggot22@dtechhs.org
Photo By Ty Gannon | tgannon24@dtechhs.org
The halls are quiet at 3:00 PM on a Wednesday. Yet, in a secluded pocket of the school, Nick Barella and Joe Schneider laugh as they play the Dordle (double wordle). Barella and Schneider first met at the new teacher training when Barella lost his badge, and he “came up and he grabbed [Schnieder’s badge] off [his] neck, yanked it up, looked at it, and went ‘nah’ and just walked away.” While they clearly already had a strong bond after that invigorating experience, their friendship truly blossomed when they started eating lunch together.
After Barella disclosed that he listens to a podcast discussing “the hayday of McDonald’s pizza” and the investigation into what “happened to the pizza at McDonalds,” they began coming up with ideas for more “dumb podcasts.” Some of these ideas included, but were not limited to “puzzle pod” – a podcast where someone “just jigsaw puzzles'' or “magic pod” where they would “record at magic shows, so you’re listening to a magic performance,” and this common interest of ideation itself lead to their next shared enthusiasm: denim.
For a long time, the two have bonded over their love for denim, and they wear denim every Thursday on what they have coined as “denim Thursdays.” This obsession goes even further as they talk about creating a denim-centered intersession class. This is anything but a new idea and is even known around the school. Freshman Aishani Garg describes a class in which Barella “started talking about jorts [jean shorts] and would not stop talking about jorts.” Schneider confirms this explaining, “we both like jeans a lot and denim products, so we were thinking about making an intersession class about denim – just idea guys really.”
When they have time alone together, they partake in various activities including eating, watching tv, and going to the d.tech basketball games. However, basketball isn’t the only sport that they relish. One of their favorite activities is playing doubles pickleball. Schneider describes pickle ball as a “sport,” “a dynamic sport,” Barella interrupts, continuing to explain that it is “not unlike tennis. In fact, the rules are very similar, but the net’s a little shorter, the courts a little smaller– so we can’t really run… It uses wooden paddles and a wiffle ball, and you just kind of [bonk] it around.” They described their recent defeat against a Foster City youth group in which they “got waxed.”
Despite how idyllic this friendship may seem, Schneider clarifies that “it’s not all daisies.” Barella often does not bring a lunch, meaning Schneider has “to peer pressure him into eating,” Barella adds on, “Joe brings me chips.” Schneider concludes, “I guess that’s it.”
From start to finish, their friendship has been anything but conventional. Despite this, it has bloomed into something beautiful and unique. Barella draws his thoughts to a close by exclaiming, “I think there’s a unique appreciation for the ridiculous that we both share.” Caring and somewhat absurd, this friendship is clearly one for the ages.