Where did the “popular” kids from your high school end up in life?

Parents Forum
61

I couldn’t resist googling my „crush“ now! Was a very funny but also mean guy, who I think had most girls in the year (and years below) crushing on him at some point or another, and knew it. Funnily enough, he was crushing on my “frenemy” who he had to pursue for years because it took her a long time to get interested. They broke up in college (he was mean and cheated). Self employed software engineer, publishes funny and irreverent poetry on the internet. I still recall his fifth grade poetry, already very irreverent and funny (we went to school for 9 years together, which is a long time to crush on someone, sigh.)

“Frenemy”, absolute alpha girl until junior year or or so when things went south for her (she tried to keep dating “crush” a secret which totally backfired. God, small town high school!), became an artist, married another artist, moved back to our hometown where her parents have property, run galleries, do stuff with art projects, he’s involved with politics, they make do. We occasionally see one another when I visit my parents. We are very open about our former rivalries now. We went to school together, mostly in the same class room actually, for 12 years…about half of the time friends, half of the time fighting. Her husband almost got a job as a museum curator in my current city, I would have enjoyed having her live close now!

We were a tiny tiny year, fewer than 40 people, and do try to organise a reunion every 5 years or so, and usually manage to collect some gossip on everyone, even those who never show. Oddly, I like almost everyone much better than I ever used to. People have said that to my face about me, too, lol. There is always one who was always a jerk, remains a jerk and always will, and also a b****, always was one, always will be, but most of the others have very much mellowed with age.

62

The popular kids in our class of 200 tended to also be smart and athletic. We had several go to Harvard, Tufts, BU, BC, and NEU (although back then, BU, BC,and NEU weren’t thought of that highly outside the region). Yes we were in the Boston area. Biggest draw was UMass (including me).

Lots of successful kids- regardless of school. Business owners, lawyers, corp execs, engineers.

I’m in close contact with our tight group from the 80’s. In that group the spectrum includes a Corp CFO, a patent attorney, an entrepreneur, a mid level manager and a prison guard (who probably has the best retirement plan of all the whole group!). When we get together, everyone falls back to their old roles and it’s just Billy, Pauly, Jimmy, Timmy, Johnny and Rickey. That’s the great thing about New England, when they love you, you’re a “Y”.

63

We didn’t have val or sal or rank , and we didn’t have a “popular” group either. Very small Quaker school in NYC, class of about 40. We did have athletes, artists, musicians, actors, some of whom were already working professionally in HS. Some still are working as actors or related, we have some executives and at least one prominent journalist, some lawyers and other professionals.

When I read OP I wondered if this was looking to prove or disprove a stereotype like “football star becomes local insurance agent and marries head cheerleader who becomes SAHM” and the “nerd starts a billion dollar company” type thread?

64

Interesting how many are adding the high academic performers to the “popular” list. So much variety depending on various factors as to what/where classmates ended up.

65

OP here. Actually I started thinking about this topic when I saw an old thread from a few years back by @Lindagaf who was looking for colleges for her daughter titled “Where do the “cool kids” go to college?”. It got me thinking about where these “cool” kids (which I interpreted as “popular” kids) ended up. I didn’t have any preconceptions about the responses, just thought it would be fun to see where your fellow classmates ended up!

As a side note. I roomed with a guy in college who was one of the most “popular” kids at his small northern CA high school. Graduating class of like 80 kids. He was the “football star”, Homecoming King, and dated one of the more “popular” girls. However, when he went away to college, he became just another “average joe” amongst a population of 30K undergrads, who had a crazy girlfriend who had to give up her love of horse riding as she had been kicked in the head one too many times (true story!). Anyways, the transition to college life was hard for him and he would frequently talk about the “good ol’ days” in high school. Some might say he peaked at 18 years old but he is doing fine, last I heard, working as a senior sales rep for a large CA company.

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Cue Bruce Springsteen’s “Good Old Days” song lol. I have no idea where anyone in my high school ended up (and have no desire to know).

67

They ended up working regular jobs like the rest of us, mostly either in our small town or in the metro area. Val is a SAHM, Sal & Homecoming Queen is a pharmacist. We also have a doctor (married to Val) but otherwise run of the mill jobs for my class.

Did think of this thread today when I notarized “the player’s” signature for his third divorce.

68

I know there’s a tendency, maybe especially on CC, to see being a SAHM as sad, or a waste of an education. I would say that there may be a lot more going on behind the scenes of communities than people realize. If everyone has a high level, high power, full time+ job, then who is doing the things that make the community an especially good place for a child, or a welcoming place for those who are disadvantaged? Stay at home parents (or parents who have less demanding or part time jobs) are often the ones hosting the neighborhood kids, coaching sports, leading scouts, teaching religion, and being mentors. They are running the community garden, summer theater/art, and the PTA. I know people who volunteer as tutors and translators, and people who set up scholarships so that all kids can participate in activities. Parents with time run the food pantry/personal care pantry, and distribute free school supplies, swap baby items and sports gear, and provide guidance to new immigrants. And then there’s local politics, the school board, boards of non-profits, etc.

Many of the women (or men) who “stay at home”, or who do not have high earning jobs, are likely very successful at making their communities happier, healthier places.

69

I haven’t kept up with more than a handful of HS classmates after going to college OOS. When I went back for my 40th reunion last year, I was surprised that many of the girls I remembered as having been beautiful and popular looked like they had spent the intervening years smoking and drinking by the pool. Some had clearly had hard lives. My geeky classmates were holding up better in general. Not exactly what I imagined “Revenge of the Nerds” would be.

70

Went to a private high school & a private LAC. Receive alumni journals from each several times a year. Easy to know a lot about fellow classmates.

Lots of doctors, lawyers, business owners, etc. One even writes posts on a college website.

P.S. As a prep school with both boarding & day students, several PG classmates went to the US Naval Academy. Two of my football teammates became Navy Seals & died while serving. Both were kind, hardworking, trustworthy & talented. Decades later this still bothers me.

Many are very successful. We all enjoyed almost unlimited opportunities. I cannot say a bad word about my prep school or my classmates. Most interesting is the understanding & appreciation of others that comes with time & age.

71

LOL I was just going to post this same thing and I still live in the same small town!

I have been driving by the country club on my way home where the class reunions are being held for over 30 years now and never stopped at any of them. There are a few people I still “know” on Facebook that I was friends with back then and I work with a couple classmates, but other than that I don’t keep in touch with any of them or have a clue what they do for a living.

72

I grew up in the south, and attended a large public high school in an upper middle class neighborhood built around a country club. Our fathers had been fraternity brothers at the state flagship, and became doctors, lawyers, engineers, businessmen, and/or politicians, who played golf together on Wednesday afternoons and the weekends, and poker on Thursday night. Our mothers did important volunteer work, and played tennis and bridge with their sorority sisters. All the couples had football season tickets for their alma mater. Friday night was steak night at the country club, and since it was included in your dues, you might as well go.

The neighborhood high school reported 98% of our 1974 class of 550 went to college. All but a handful went to the state flagship. The overwhelming majority of those who went on for professional degrees did those in-state as well.

All the girls and boys elected to class office and homecoming/prom courts were in honors classes. All the elected boys were on the football team (which won the state championship most years) and most were on the basketball and baseball teams as well. All the elected girls were cheerleaders, on dance squad, or majorettes. Girls didn’t have athletic teams. All those students went to the state flagship, joined fraternity and sororities, became officers in those groups, and then went on to become doctors, lawyers, engineers, businessmen (and businesswomen) and politicians. Most of the engineers have advanced engineering degrees of some kind or an MBA. The majority of these former popular classmates live in our hometown, just in a newer, fancier neighborhood then the one we grew up in, though still built around a country club. They have football season tickets.

I don’t know what popular really means in a high school class the size of ours. In the early 70s, even in the south, many teens didn’t think it was very cool to play sports, dance at half-time, go to school dances or run for student government.

Even the too-cool-for-school students ended up at the state flagship, but many of them left home afterwards. The cool musician was in a famous rock bank, toured the world, and still has a successful career in music. The cool gay guy left for NYC and an arts career and hasn’t looked back. He’s famous, but I’m not going to tell you any more. The cool nerd was an early bazillionaire tech whiz in CA. They have been back for high school reunions. Well, maybe not the musician.

73

Wow, some of you have some very successful classmates. I went to a mediocre high school. I would say most of the popular people still live in or near my hometown. Only a small percentage of my class actually went away to college. Many didn’t go at all. I know the jock didn’t finish college. Class president is doing well, I believe. Nobody went to an ivy, we did have one girl go to Vanderbilt, but have no idea where she is now. She left and never looked back lol.

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Only about 25% of my HS class went to college, and 80% of those who did went to the local college. Homecoming queen went to an OOS SEC school in art. One girl was a local TV reporter while in college, then married and has spent most of her adult life doing missionary work around the world. The smart guys went to Georgia Tech and are engineers. One friend became a lawyer (to noone’s surprise; it was the family business). My college BF (we were best buds in HS) was a geologist and struck out three times in the marriage dept. One guy got into West Point. No Ivy or other top private schools. I’ve noticed on FB that many went to college as adults and finished AA and BA/BS degrees in their 30s and 40s.

The biggest surprises (and some of the biggest successes) were folks who were B+ students but had (or developed) A+ social skills. One guy is a C-level executive in senior residential facilities. One is a psychologist, one is a professor in education/social work, and the other, who unfortunately died recently, majored in accounting and had a hugely successful career in a male-dominated field (and in the somewhat rural south, that is HUGE).

Most still live in the area. I was unusual for a) leaving home for college and b) not coming back.

Others have had hard lives as factories closed and the lack of education limits other opportunities. Several have died of drug/alcohol issues.

75

I went to a big suburban public HS that was only sophomore through senior years. 600 in our class! I didn’t come from a feeder school in junior high like most the kids so never really got to know a lot of them. We had a lot of tracking so I was in the same classes with pretty much the same 75 kids over and over.

The popular group was large. Our student body president took over his Dad’s dry cleaning business after college. One guy I had a crush on became a doctor. One of the cheerleaders became a flight attendant and she’s now high up in her airline’s union. One is a national TV exec. One an artist. Otherwise, I really don’t know as I didn’t stay in touch.

There were a lot of wild parties - even cocaine, it was the 80s – and while I’m sure not all the popular kids were so wild that’s what I think of when I think of that crowd. It was a bit of John Hughes movie situation and not my scene. [Side note: where were the parents?]

I came out of my shell in college and became much more social, though still not a big partier. Later married the guy who was voted Most Likely to Succeed at his high school, lol. :slight_smile:

76

Hmmm…my 30 yr HS reunion is coming up next month…will have to report back after that!

77

No one famous from my HS class. The popular kids seemed to do well, but the nerds did better. One guy worked at Microsoft for several years. He was a contract worker and wasn’t eligible for stock options. This frustrated him and he left to work at Amazon. Then came the dot com bust of 2000. He was afraid for Amazon’s future and thought he made a bad decision to leave Microsoft, lol.
I am more impressed by the average students who did well. One guy spent his entire career in the hotel industry and ended up managing a hotel at a destination resort. He also earned an MBA.

78

Wow this thread is making me too nostalgic for high school even though it was nothing special for me.

Don’t keep in touch with too many people, but we have a varied type of careers that people went into. Some doctors, lawyers, business people, tech etc. Most have moved away from the suburban town I lived in and probably won’t be back at all.

Some of the ones I most admire are those who have started their own fitness/personal training companies. The guy who was the class clown now works in local politics on the other side of the country. A few have gone into the military. Most of the popular kids work in sales or own their own small businesses.