I don’t know. My brother might but I’ve never been interested enough to ask him. I’m not sure I even knew who was “popular” back then, however that’s defined in this context.
He sounds like a success in life to me - doing important work and having fun doing it!
I don’t remember my high school Val and Sal but I could probably narrow it down to a handful of possibilities. The academic high achievers at my high school were not the football players and cheerleaders. My nerdy friends seem to be doing well for the most part. Executive at a publishing company, engineers, etc. I’ve got a cool job, I think. No one is famous. I think a guy a year ahead of me ended up playing MLB and another a year ahead of me was in the Olympics.
It seems like one popular crowd in high school isn’t how it works anymore. It also seems like academic chops are more appreciated than they were back in the day. All the extremely successful computer people changed the dynamic.
Sorry, but being val/sal is NOT being popular although someone could be both. I knew everyone and definitely know who was in the honors English (preAP days) but also an athlete or cheerleader (no girls sports either). Years later I figured out that several of the popular crowd girls were friends because they grew up in the same neighborhood, not because of other factors. Not money- middle class suburb.
The homecoming king and queen got maried right after HS and had their first child that year I believe. Still married. Give me two years to catch up when I attend my 50th(!) HS reunion. Am on the email list so get news about regular get togethers of those who stayed in the area. Basically so little in common except for our childhood.
Out of around 270 suburban kids several got professional/PhD degrees, many college. Back in my day, in that area, more kids went to college than probably should have- if we had been in another city in the state it would have been the converse (those who should have didn’t…).
I went to a nerd school. The popular kids were in the minority and didn’t do so well in life. The nerds are all successful.
Most of the popular kids in my class were good students, went to decent colleges and did quite well. Maybe my school was unusual in the early 70’s but being smart was not a bad thing and was even respected.
We didn’t have a val or sal as the school did not believe in ranking. I was definitely part of the smart intellectual crowd, but I did not get straight A’s by any means. I think I had the third highest SAT scores in the class, as I had one friend who obssessed about stats until we finally heard from colleges in April and she ferretted out most of them. I can’t remember what hers were - just that mine were better! There were students with scores in the high 600s (talking early 1970s pre-recentering) who got into HYP.
I honestly don’t what those folks are doing. I left town and went to college 900 miles away.(one of the few that went out of state) 16 years after HS someone found me on FB. I am friends with some, but could only tell you what 3 of them are doing and they were semi-popular.
I found a job after college 800 miles away and I don’t get back to town that often.
Just like I told D19 when she left for college that she wouldn’t hardly see any of the HS friends so go re-invent yourself.
Sad to say most of my classmates a.) never left or returned to our sad suburban town and b.) most of the bright and promising girls graduated from college but promptly got married and became SAHMs. Some of the boys became lawyers. I was VAL/ Most Likely to Succeed. I don’t think I’ve delivered on that but I did escape town for good and made it in tech management. One guy played professional football, one guy became a navy seal. Otherwise pretty unexciting stuff.
I went to a competitive, very Establishment private day school in a city in what I think of as the “near Midwest.” Most of my classmates had privilege and family capital behind them, and the ones who didn’t had a lot on the ball. My class was the first class to be co-educational; before my graduating year it was a boys’ school exclusively. We didn’t know most of the girls in my class that well, because instead of merging with its sister school (where many of our sisters went), my school purchased a failing Catholic school nearby lock, stock, and nuns. My female classmates were mostly aghast and disoriented to go from a tiny, intimate, social-justice and emotional-intelligence oriented school taught by liberal nuns to a school with five times as many boys who were aggressive, ambitious, hypercompetitive, mostly not Catholic, and into academics and sports.
Of course there were kids who were more popular than other kids, but by and large we didn’t have much of a hierarchy around that. We were supposed to appreciate what everyone else had to offer. Almost everyone was popular enough and simultaneously plenty insecure.
Anyway, for better or worse, I know what a fair number of my classmates have done with their working lives.
The single most popular kid was probably my best friend, who won the school prize for best combination of academic and athletic ability at a place that valued both highly. He’s now a senior teacher at the girls’ school our school never merged with, but that’s his fourth or fifth career – he has also been a corporate lawyer, political strategist, Outward Bound instructor, environmental advocate, and for the better part of seven years a global circumnavigator in a 33-foot boat with his wife and two young children. A very, very successful guy.
Other very popular boys – a successful real estate developer in our hometown, an investment adviser there, an unsuccessful actor who died of AIDS in the early 90s (he was gay but not out – barely not out – in high school), a successful software salesman in an East Coast metropolitan area (the class president), a local entrepreneur who sold out for reasonably big bucks in his early 50s and retired to La Jolla. The most popular girls (popular with the boys, at least; only the first of these was popular with the other girls) are a principal with an investment firm in the Midwest, a not-so-successful insurance salesperson in a city near our hometown, and someone now newly retired following the sale of the marketing firm she co-founded.
The two biggest jocks in the class: one is an investment adviser in our hometown, the other has a PhD and runs the education division of a brand-name consulting firm. Of the two most STEM-focused, nerdy kids in our class, one had a long career as an engineer with Kodak and then a medical imaging company, and is now a science teacher in NYC, and the other (my best friend in elementary school) is a tenured psychology professor at a tippy-top university that poached him from another even more prestigious university.
I (who would have been the valedictorian if my school had valedictorians) am by far the least successful out of my set of four closest high school friends. (I do fine, but I peaked early.) I’ve already described my closest friend. One of the others is a PhD clinical psychologist who has a faculty appointment at a tippy-top university and ran the Family Counseling service at the large VA hospital near that university for 25 years. The fourth retired as a senior vice president at a major international bank, where he ran their banking industry group, and now he chairs the board of a highly regarded local charity in the NYC area.
Also went to a school (public) and during an age when being smart, athletic and popular were not mutually exclusive. Out of a class of 210, we had 1 H, 1Y, 1 Cornell, 2 Dukes, 1 Swat, 1 BSMD at Wake, 1 Bates plus a number of other excellent MidAtlantic schools plus a whole lot of Univ Del.
The Class President went to Trinity, and interestingly her daughter was a couple of years ahead of mine at another NESCAC .
The Student Body Pres and All State football player and 4x state champ wrestler went to Swat and is a successful engineer.
The Class co-Vals (Wake and Duke) went on to become doctors, although one had a rough path.
The football co-captain (All State football and baseball) went into accounting/finance and married the lead cheerleader. They have a lovely family.
Most of my circle of friends have had successful careers as doctor, lawyers, engineers, business execs and small business owners. I think growing up middle class with parents who for the most part were professionals working their way up distilled a healthy work ethic and appreciation of education.
I was also kindergarten classmates with Dr. Oz. We car pooled together from the same apartment complex, and we were both from immigrant families. His family moved around as his father pursued his medical career. He ended up at the local private prep school, I think in part because of forced busing. My parents actually looked into sending my brother and me to one of the Phillips Academies because of this, but both of us resisted going to boarding or private schools.
I haven’t seen most of these people in ages…
The homecoming queen: became an elementary school teacher (she sent me a linkedin request about a year ago)
Homecoming King: Went to the local university and inherited ownership of his family’s sporting goods store. He still owns it. They are a major sponsor of local sporting events and charities. And there is a learning center at the local art museum named after his father…The family is very nice and they’re very charitable.
Head cheerleader: Got her Mrs. Degree…heard she married right after college graduation. She lives in Seattle…A family friend (who was my sister’s best friend in high school) who was two years ahead of me still knows this girl’s older sister.
Football star: I think he played football in college, don’t know where he is now. He used to live a few blocks away from me in high school. And I know his parents were in the same home that my mother was in before she passed away…she still remembered their name.
Most likely to succeed: I was friends with her and I looked her up and she works at University of Florida. She was also my neighbor in high school and her sister lives in the same subdivision as my stepfather…I might try to get in touch with her…she was super nice.
Class President: Don’t know what he is doing now. I do know that his parents were neighbors of my mom and stepfather when they first married in the late 70’s…
One of my friends from high school is a lawyer and lives in the DC area. She’s a had a great career and has done quite a bit of traveling. She and I still keep in touch from time to time. She is very nice…
Another girl I was friends with became a ballerina with the American Ballet in NYC. She danced with them for several years and was a dance teacher.
Another friend got married right out of college…that husband left her and her three kids, but she has been with another man for about 20 years now and couldn’t be happier. She travels all the time! Her two sons were high school science teachers and one just became a principal and her D is going to school to become a Physician’s assistant. Her two DIL’s are teachers as well!
In case you can’t tell…I went to school/grew up in a smallish town. It’s grown a lot since, but it still feels pretty small…
At my D’s school: (her school sends out a magazine to all alumni) (my s went there and I work there)
Valedictorian: is a doctor who went to Harvard
Sal: went to grad school at Vanderbilt…have to ask D what she is doing now
most likely to succeed: worked at a bank, played violin in an orchestra in Europe, now she does scores for movies
popular girl: worked for a charity and frequently traveled to Africa to help give medical care to orphans. Now she works for a company that helps brings technology and STEM to the classroom…
other popular girl: works in fashion buying/marketing
other popular girl: is an ER nurse
Most athletic guy: sadly he got arrested for a DUI, but apparently he turned his life around, found religion and is a youth group leader at a church.
Most athletic girl: D said she took time off to travel after graduating from Georgetown where she played soccer.
The wild guy: got in a car accident while driving drunk and ended up in a wheelchair. Is 11 years sober and just started a company called Accessible Festivals…which makes music festivals and festivals like Burning Man more accessible to those with disabilities and mobility issues…he is actually a nice guy and it’s amazing what he’s managed to do!
One of D’s friends is an EMT, another is an actress, another is an occupational therapist, another teaches elementary school and another does freelance writing…
My high school was in an upper middle class area with successful professional parents for the most part. Even the slackers in high school were successful. For example…our school tracked students…and many of the lowest tracked students became doctors, or lawyers or investment bankers or whatever.
Each class had over 1000 students so “popular” really wasn’t an issue as almost everyone was popular in some circle of friends.
There are some high profile professionals from my class…folks who you all probably would recognize, or at least recognize their jobs. Entertainment professionals (both on and off stage), professional musicians, a bunch of doctors lawyers etc, folks who work(ed) in politics both locally and nationally. Lots of folks with their own successful businesses. Journalists, newspaper editors, TV personalities.
Ours was a very good high school in its day…and the student outcomes mirror that.
I just went to my 50th HS reunion this summer, and really…no one cared at all about the successes or lack of successes of the classmates.
My kids went to a private school that is made up of affluent kids and very smart educated, successful families…so a lot of kids are very smart and end up doing well. Even the jocks and popular kids.
In D’s class the head cheerleader does freelance costume design, makeup and set design for the school plays at many of the schools in our area. She is now married and has a kid and lives in Idaho and does the same thing there. Her husband works in tech.
D’s class president who was back visiting and came to say hi to us ladies in the office currently teacher English/ coaches soccer at a private high school back east…very nice girl! She is going to be in D’s area soon so I told her to get in touch with D.
D read my posts and said the guy in her class who was the wild one works for accessible festivals…didn’t start it. Thanks D for the correction!
S just graduated high school this year so his class hasn’t started their careers yet, but here is where all the superlatives are heading to college/just started at school…
Valedictorian: Middlebury
Sal: Brown
Popular girl: University of San Diego
Football star: University of Oregon
Homecoming queen: Loyola Marymount
Homecoming king: University of Washington
Most Likely to succeed: Boston College
Most Athletic Girl: Stanford (gymnastics)
Most Athletic Guy: UCLA (basketball)
Head cheerleader: Pepperdine
Surfer dude/girl: Eckerd and UC Santa Barbara respectively
Girl who won sweetest/nicest: Linfield College
The “popular” kids from our public high school are somewhere. The “high achievers” – who won academic awards and competitions in math or debate – at least those I’ve kept track of – have in a couple of cases done extremely well, e.g., in legal field and journalism, where they have national reputations. From other years, the school has turned out some extremely well known entrepreneurs, film makers, and others notable enough to also have articles about them in Wikipedia. On the whole, however, those numbers are small relative to the number of graduates. The school has also graduated some who were very successful (and well-known) athletes at college or professonal levels.
I went to a specialized school in New York (prominent alums older than me include Elena Kagan and Cynthia Nixon; younger than me, Lin-Manuel Miranda and Chris Hayes), and we lacked some of the traditional delineations of high-school popularity. We had no football team, and other athletes might be popular along with their sports prowess but not because of it. (I was co-captain of the tennis team, myself; had no effect on my social standing, but I was generally well-liked to begin with.) We had no cheerleaders and no homecoming. Had a prom, but no king or queen. The group that seemed to feature the most popular kids was musical theater, surprisingly enough (seemed totally natural at the time). And we weren’t officially ranked, so no formal valedictorian or salutatorian.
Kids who worked in the school office sometimes got hold of the unofficial rankings, though, so we knew that the No. 1 in the class was a very quiet girl who never partied and seemed to have few friends. She became a doctor, like many of our classmates. The No. 2 student was a girl who was rich, popular and beautiful, so not much wrong with her life! She’s a psychologist and academic now.
All in all, we’ve mostly done pretty well, with a lot of professors, doctors, journalists and creatives. A fair number in finance, including one top investment manager who’s become super-rich and is a generous philanthropist. I always look forward to our reunions, which are warm, friendly and full of laughter.
We had a funny discussion on our class’s Facebook group recently. One classmate said he found another classmate’s LinkedIn page, which said the page’s owner had been valedictorian in high school. Oops! Much rollicking discussion ensued, but we still don’t know who it was.
I attended a Catholic HS in Seattle in the early -mid 80’s Couple hundred in our graduating class and about 90% went to college, pretty typical.
Our Valedictorian is a very successful surgeon and researcher. The co sals include an orthopedic surgeon, a dentist, a Management Consultant who made a mint and is semi retired (she and the dentist were identical twins). Football star played a year at D1 then got hurt. He became an International finance guy and then helped co found a couple startups but also lost most of his hair by 30. Head Cheerleader and Football captain got married right out of college. Great family and both lawyers. Most of the rest has been pretty successful: teachers, lawyers, real estate, Insurance lots of professionals and overall pretty close group. I have done all right and as most conservative (remember this was Seattle) and co most likely to succeed I cant be too unhappy with a great family and a pretty good life!