The talk of high school reunions (and the fact that I’ve never been to one since 10 year (?) and have never looked back) got me thinking, “who were CC people in high school”??
Be honest. You might be exactly the same or totally different now. We don’t care. We also don’t need to be impressed. This isn’t a competition. I don’t care what your SAT score was but WHO you were. What you did. Who did you hang out with. Was it a positive or negative experience. If you want you can mention the year you graduated. Sometimes years give a context.
I was a better than average student but not the cream of the crop. I hung out with the relatively smart, but good kids. Not the “popular” kids like the jocks and cheerleaders but often I would call my friends those with leadership positions in the school.
My lane was writing. So one of the top couple of positions on the school newspaper but not the editor. My specialties were humor and editorials which I would sometimes push the limit of what opinions might be allowed to publish. I also did a lot of creative writing - poems, plays, fiction.
My extracurricular were synchronized swimming (I was very average but did it with my best friend), homecoming committee - can’t remember what else! I did not date in high school. Went to a couple homecoming dances with friends but not a date. Did not go to prom. Ever. I had one big crush in high school - probably for most of high school - I don’t think he ever amounted to a lot and became kind of a drifter so I guess I didn’t miss much.
High school was a positive experience for me but also I could not WAIT to go to college. My parents were loving but pretty strict. I graduated in 1977, class of 555 people.
I was a geeky band nerd. Had a tight small group of friends but definitely didn’t run in the popular circles. I took academics very seriously. First generation to be born in the US and go to college.
I hated high school. The academic part was fine, and I was a very good student. But I was introverted, not particularly attractive, and uncomfortable in my own skin. I played in orchestra, which really sealed my fate as uncool. I rarely had anyone I was friends with in my lunch period, so lunch was often the worst time of day.
I didn’t go to homecoming dances or prom. In fact, I didn’t date at all in high school; no one asked me out.
That said, I was not friendless. I made friends in class, in sports (I played volleyball and ran track), in outside activities like community orchestra & orchestra camps. I didn’t belong to any particular group, but I had friends from pretty much every group. I didn’t party, but I did things with friends on weekends. My best friend today is my 11th grade chemistry partner, whom I wouldn’t have known if not for being randomly partnered with her.
I started working at McDonald’s when I was 15. That was my favorite part of my high school years. I was very competent (not a brag, but rather something that I hadn’t realized I could be), and I was a manager senior year. I had great bosses and great coworkers. I met kids from several different schools at work, which was nice.
I muddled through, and I joke that I became the person I am now in spite of high school.
I was an angsty Goth kid. Stripped and dyed my hair so many times that it eventually started to break off. Listened to a lot of The Cure, The Smiths, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Echo and the Bunnymen, and considered myself very “deep” lol.
In the context of my school, I was a fairly average student - I did quite well in the classes I liked (English, history, foreign language), and just OK in the classes I didn’t (STEM). However, I attended a gifted school that was and is ranked in the top ten nationally for public schools, so the coursework was more advanced than at the average public school. Decided I needed to live in New York City, and indeed chose Fordham for undergrad where everything came together for me.
Truthfully, I think I’m pretty similar to what I was in HS but a better version.
I was popular-adjacent. i didn’t get asked to the popular girls’ sleepovers, except once, but I was invited to their parties. I had a leadership role in the spirit club but wasn’t a cheerleader or mascot (although I did try out once for mascot. Too bad I couldn’t tumble!). I wasn’t editor of the newspaper but was features editor. That kind of thing – involved and popular enough but not top-tier.
I tended toward longer relationships. First real kiss was last day of freshman year, and then all sophomore year I had a bf from another school. Started dating my longtime HS/college bf in December of junior year. So, again, male attention but not exactly homecoming queen.
I was smart but wasn’t treated as so. Looking back, I was one person away from being top 5% of my class, but the counselor never talked to me about college. I was first in my family to go so I didn’t have a clue. Went to a juco for two years and then transferred.
I got along with all groups. My freshman year I drank a lot with the theater kids. Sophomore year I spent more time with the kickers. Junior year, my bf introduced me to the stoner crowd, even though I wasn’t one and my dating him was a bit of a scandal. By senior year, I was really in a crowd of one. I had my bf and my activities and my twin cousins, who were in my grade. Their little sister was a cheerleader and super popular so I seemed to know a lot of underclassmen.
Overall, I really liked HS. I had a health incident my senior year that really showed the true colors of myself and others. Really instrumental to who I am now.
I was just like you!! Including working at McDonald’s (though I wasn’t a manager). My one extracurricular was Everything Horse, and Riding. Went to the barn almost every day after school. My best friends came from that world.
Was not a stellar high school student at all. Got in to only 1 college. Knew I had to turn it on in college, did so, and went to law school after that.
And now – I live on a farm and board retired horses. I go to the barn every day. And while not everything is Horse, a lot is!
It’s interesting to talk to a high school friend to see how others saw you vs how you saw yourself. My oldest friend and I had that conversation last night. Neither of us saw ourself the way the other did.
I came from a rural area, small school. Grew up on a farm-horses and crops. I was top of my class, band/drama kid. Talented oboist. I would say typical nerd. I mostly liked high school. College was much more fun, though.
I was a band nerd. Hung with the smart kids, some of whom were popular, but I was never popular. I did not aspire to popularity at all. I was smarter than average, but not as smart as some. I don’t remember the percentile, but certainly in the top 25% in my class maybe higher. I’m not sure my school even did percentiles then. A-B student. I think I got one C in Trig.
I did not love high school, but I hate hate hated middle school so it was a lot better than that. There was a fair amount of partying at my high school and I was not interested in that at all. Did not go to the prom. Got asked, but I didn’t want to go with the guy, who was nerdier than me so I skipped it. Didn’t date anyone from my high school, but kissed a boy from church a few times. I was nerdier than I knew. Liked sci-fi (more in middle school) and MTV.
I liked college more. Partied some in college, but I really got more comfortable in my own skin after college. Got really into music and seeing bands, but not playing any more. Took up photography and did a lot of band photography. Wrote for the local alternative weekly for a brief spell.
Awkward, introverted, no self esteem, moreso than “nerdy.” I thought everyone hated me. I had a couple good friends, but if they weren’t there for lunch, it was a nightmare. I had no one.
I was a good student. Getting good grades was always easy for me. But it added to my torment. In every class, whenever we got an assignment back, someone would always ask “what did CM get?” If they had a higher score, it always ended in a cheer and fist pump. I hated that so much. I just wanted to be anonymous.
never had a boyfriend, but ironically I did go to senior prom - and was in the limo with the cool kids. Two were the kids of famous people involved with the NFL. They were nice enough to me, but never spoke to me after.
I also played classical piano, played trumpet in the band - quit my junior year because I hated marching. And I was a swimmer. Good, but not good enough that any college was knocking on my door. I also a lot of other activities that would rival these CC chance me threads. But I say that mostly because it meant I was too busy to hang out with friends that I didn’t have, so I didn’t feel like I was missing that.
HS was OK and better than elementary and intermediate school, but I had big hopes that college would be better. Around age 16, I had a boyfriend and ended up hanging out with all of his friends so I had very few of my own. I was an excellent student in most subjects (not grammar though and not history, though I got great grades in pretty much everything). I was somewhat athletic (enough to do well in PE), but no interest in any club or league sports (for fun). I babysat for a while and watched some kids after school so that they would have light supervision and do their homework. I had very a good figure but hid it in boy’s plaid shirts and bell bottoms most of the time. I formed a girl’s social club and we had parties with boy’s social clubs to meet one another.
I don’t have any lasting friendships from HS but do have two from intermediate school. I don’t have any lasting friendships from college or law school either, but enjoyed both a lot more than any school setting before then.
I’m very glad both of my kids have lasting friends from HS and college, even nearly 20+ years later!
I’m friends with a group of folks I met around HS that my brother’s friend dated one of the girls. After they broke up, I stayed friends with that girl and many of her friends—they’ve all known one another since elementary school.
I was popular-adjacent. I knew everyone and was nice to everyone, and everyone knew and liked me. Turns out in retrospect I was a pretty good student – top 10% of a class of 245. People thought I was smart, even though I wasn’t in all honors classes. My sister, who was six years ahead of me in school, consistently got all As, so in contrast I wasn’t “smart.”
I had a BF for three years – he was President of the class, sports editor of the paper, captain of the wrestling team – so I never had to worry about getting asked out. It was comfortable – though, in retrospect, it probably hindered me in some ways.
I organized our 50th reunion and loved it, since I knew everyone! I am still in touch with maybe 10 or so people from HS. HS was wonderful for me.
I was a choir nerd. I spent more than two periods a day in the choir area…which was a floor of our school. I was a decent honors student. I was not in the popular clique, but in college became friends with a number of students who were (and I still keep in touch with them).
I loved high school. I liked the teachers for the most part, and the other students.
Most people knew who I was in my 3000 person high school because I was a choir soloist, and also sang in some assemblies, etc.
I’m happy that I still keep in touch with about a dozen of my HS friends.
Chubby sliding to fat. Very very smart. I had a few good friends and we enjoyed our small group, enjoyed our geekiness. No real social life, had my first date ever after graduation. Active in my church, it was a safe spot where I was well loved. The faithful but disposable sidekick. Band geek, but on the margins. My sibs were famous band people and in our school you could be choir or band or sports but only one. No extracurriculars were offered.
Because it was a very small school in a small town, the friends I had in elementary were still my friends enough in high school that I was spared some of the worst abuse, because they became popular so I was popular-adjacent. My mom was the mom everyone liked, my dad adored me. My best friend got me a blind date from out of town so I could go to Prom with her and her bf. (Ahh, the days where no decent girl would be allowed to go alone). I was as happy as most adolescent girls, maybe felt a bit more left out.
I can think of a dozen traumatic things, none of which matter now. But you couldn’t pay me enough to go back. At the only reunion I ever was coerced into attending (same good friends did that) almost nobody recognized me. I was 30 lbs lighter, had left town for good, married a great guy, and was much more sure of myself.
I was a nerd nerd - not at all popular. Captain of the Math Team (not a very successful one), the only team I have ever been a member of. Salutatorian of a class of 700 students. I was also on the school paper, the yearbook, photography club, and chess club. I spent most afternoons after school at school for some club or activity. I was young (had skipped a grade) and graduated at 16. Also, class of 77.
I posted in the Senior Superlatives thread that although I should have been voted “Most Likely to End Up in a Convent, I was instead voted “Most Talented” for emceeing our senior variety show and for wining a state trophy on the forensics team (class of ‘76). I “went steady” with a track star junior and senior year, but I was not part of the popular crowd. I was a studious NHS member, earned the “Top English Student” award, graduated third in a class of 650, and went to beauty school on a scholarship after graduation while working in a bookstore.
I did NOT see myself as my classmates saw me at all. I was nominated for homecoming court but declined thinking it was a setup for a Carrie-like event. College changed all that. Those were my magic years.
ETA: A member of the popular crowd became my BF senior year, though I didn’t hang out with her clique. She went to Michigan and needed a replacement roommate second semester of her freshman year and convinced me to take a temporary leave of absence from beauty school to help her out. Future DH lived on her hall, so I stayed to graduate. The rest is history. (She’s still my BF today and is on the planning committee for our upcoming 50th reunion.)
High school wasn’t any more important to me than elementary school or junior high. I was blissfully unaware of any cliques and had friends from different groups. I think I was just waiting for life to begin. I remember hearing my peers saying they couldn’t wait to get out of our town and I couldn’t understand why. But I was the one who left and never went back. My brother is a year older than me and remains friends with many of the people we went to high school with whereas I barely remember their names.
I was shy and a perfectionist. Had to get all A+s. I played piano seriously. Looking back, I wish I had had more fun! Our high school had very specific cliques, and I was in the “brains” one (not a compliment back then). My group of friends usually met in the library, because it was a safe place from teasing.
For some reason, when we got to our senior year in high school, we came out of our shells and had a lot of fun. We were still teased, but we didn’t care. I started dating my first boyfriend (future MIT grad who went on to get a PhD in astrophysics from UT) in the spring semester of that year. Another girl in the group got her PhD in astrophysics, also, and studied under Stephen Hawking. She gave a eulogy at his funeral. My BFF got her bachelor’s degree in math and then her PhD in history. (Huh, we were all kids of UT professors! I never thought about that before.) So while I got good grades, I had to study like heck for them, while my friends coasted through. I loved piano and would have majored in it if I had been good enough to be a soloist, but engineering seemed more practical.
I was very happy to be done with high school. I relaxed a lot in college and had a much better time there.
