Sophomore Nicolette Sidelsky is jogging down the street one summer day when a man walking his dog bumps into her. Flustered, she asks the man if they have met before, to which he replies no. But this man is no stranger to Sidelsky; he is the man she has been bumping into for months now in her dreams.

Sidelsky often experiences recurring visions either in her sleep or while she is daydreaming that come true many months later, such as the man bumping into her on the street. She first remembers having these abilities when she was around 13 years old and had a vision of a conversation between her and her father only to have the exact moment occur weeks later, Sidelsky says.

“I don’t know exactly why [my visions] happen, but I think that everything happens for a reason,” Sidelsky said.

For her, these visions are also a way to stand out from the uniformity of society since she is able to experience things like no one else. Sidelsky says she could not imagine being the exact same as others and feels the uniqueness of her abilities often has a positive impact on her life.

Like Sidelsky, sophomore Gianna Cassin appreciates the way her psychic abilities allow her to stand out from the crowd. Cassin has experienced many situations where she unintentionally predicts the future, such as singing a song right before it plays, or cracking her knuckles only to have it appear in the next line of the book she was reading, she explains. Cassin said she has had these abilities for about two years now and agrees with Sidelsky that they enable her to be unique.

“I like being different, so when something happens [involving my abilities] it’s cool,” Cassin said.

People often believe these occurrences are merely coincidences, she explains. However, for Cassin, the validity of her psychic abilities are reinforced by the feelings that surround them that ultimately remind her they cannot simply be accidents.

“I feel like people are kind of skeptical about it,” Cassin said. “It’s okay if you don’t believe in it…but it’s not just a coincidence to me; maybe it seems that way for other people, but I can just feel it.”

Junior Reily Stone describes psychic experiences similar to that of Cassin. Since she was a child, Stone claims she has been able to predict the outcome of situations. For example, in third grade she guessed almost the exact amount of rocks in a Mason jar, a thing most nine year olds cannot do, she says. While she is not fully convinced these situations are more than just coincidences, she describes getting a gut-feeling in her chest that tells her that her correct predictions are more than just accidents.

“[When I’m] able to be right about a situation when nobody around [me] really knows what’s going on, I get a feeling like that,” Stone said.

For sophomore Ruth Thomas, her psychic abilities are shared between her and her twin Rebecca. Telepathy, the act of reading someone’s mind, is a regular activity among the sisters, explains Thomas. For example, when Thomas’s twin wanted to go shopping for a school outfit, Thomas seemed to know exactly what her sister wanted at that specific store. It is situations such as these that bring Thomas and her sister even closer together and enable them to share a bond like no other.

“I live with someone who I can count on and [who] knows how I am feeling,” Thomas said. “It’s not something I’m ever going to lose.”

Thomas admits her and her sister would still confide in each other even if they could not read each other’s thoughts, yet their abilities have definitely impacted their relationship for the better. For example, Thomas and her sister can often sense when their twin is in an unpleasant situation and help them get out of it, she explains.

“[Having psychic abilities has] brought us closer,” Thomas said. “Since we feel and think the same things, most of our opinions aren’t very different.”

However, psychic abilities can have disadvantages, Stone says. She says that  her mother also experiences weird dreams and feelings about people. When these occurrences preview a negative event in the future, they often provoke feelings of anxiety and worry for Stone and her mom, Stone says. Additionally, these rare experiences often made her feel like something was wrong with her when she was younger.

“I thought something was messed up with me,” Stone said. “When [my mom] talked to me about [my psychic abilities] I just thought it was kind of weird.”

Like Stone, Sidelsky sometimes experiences feelings of being an outcast because of her psychic abilities, she says. However, Sidelsky also feels empowered by her differences and reminds herself that being unique is not a bad thing.

“[Having psychic abilities] makes me feel stronger and cool,” Sidelsky said. “I feel like I’m different and I like [being] different.”