Never had any interest in revisiting my high school class–not 5 weeks after graduation, not 5 years, not 25 years. We were together out of common geography, not common interests. (So why does it insist on still showing up in my dreams?)
Your alumni association lost you? Based on my experience, the one group of people who always seem to find me no matter where I am, no matter how many times I move, no matter that I’ve never given them my current address, are my various alumni associations so that they can ask for a donation.
Never gone. My memories of HS aren’t hellish - but they’re not great either. I also assume that anyone who really wants to know how I’m doing will friend me on facebook. I’ve never looked anyone up, so I know I’m not that interested. There’s nothing I really need to relive. And while my life is fine - it isn’t spectacular enough to go back and gloat (should that change, I will absolutely show up at a reunion and gloat. I am that petty.)
Small school, class of 35.
I went to my 20th. It was fine, very nice to see some close friends. Saw some former teachers, which was even nicer in some ways.
I’ll go to 25 or 30.
Apparently it’s not a big thing with my high school. Prompted by this thread, I just did a google search for my high school and reunions. I found there’s a site.
There was nothing about my class. But they had my sister’s class (she was a year ahead of me) and they had a 35th reunion event.
Three people attended. One person declined. And 134 people didn’t respond to the invitation.
I checked a recent reunion for the class a year ahead of them. They invited the alumni of the years on both sides of theirs to attend. They got twelve people with 180 no responses.
I’ve gone to all that we’ve had, but haven’t been to one in 8 yrs. Apparently no one wanted to make the effort last time (a ‘0’ year one). There’s a couple of friends I’m still in touch with, but I don’t do FB so I wouldn’t be a good one to attempt to organize one.
Yes. Our class was small (120 – though the largest one in the history of the school) and many of us had known each other since kindergarten. It didn’t have the cliques that other schools had and was far different from the cliches of high school. You good be an athlete or cheerleader and still be a top student.
It wasn’t perfect – there were a few cases of bullying and certainly some outcasts – but the school administration stopped it (our gym coaches would bark at anyone who said anything nasty to anyone else in the class).
The reunions I’ve attended were all fun – people having a good time. The last couple they chartered a boat and watched fireworks from the bay.
So, yes, I plan to attend my next one.
Yes, I do attend. It’s been five years since the 40th. I was amazed at how recognizable some of us still are/were.
Went to my 40th, which was enough for me. Most people really don’t change much. Assholes remain assholes.
Yep. Just this past weekend. Really enjoyed it. My high school is a bit of an anomaly. Reunions have always been organized by the ‘normal people,’ and the cool kids who might want to show up to brag about how successful they are are the ones who typically beg off.
Holy Schlamoly, this year is MY 40th reunion, too! Are we all the same damn age?
I had a good time in high school; dated beautiful girls, was in all the school plays, mostly in leading roles & did set work to boot; not only in the band but organized small ensembles, jazz combos, Renaissance musick groups, and had a rock band. Had my share of downers but it was mostly pleasant. Fewer than 100 in graduating class.
Then I went East — nearly all my classmates chose to stay in Ohio, either at small liberal arts or religion-affiliated colleges, or big State schools. My college years blew my mind wide open, and I moved down to NYC immediately afterward, and spent a lot of time in extensive travel.
I’ve never been to a high school reunion because I don’t think I could connect with any of those people. Most of them live within a few miles of where they grew up, and I doubt more than a few even own a passport.
I do still have an excellent head of hair. It might be worth dropping by for gloating purposes.
I’m sorry so many respondents had such a terrible time in high school. Things that I think make a difference (some rather obvious). The size of the town you grew up in, and, consequently, the size of your high school class. I lived in a small city in Ohio and had about 130 classmates. I was the 3rd of 9 siblings, so everyone in town knew our family and we knew everyone. There might have been maybe 10 classmates that weren’t with us all the way from kindergarten. I went to my 20th, 40th, and, this past summer, my 50th reunion. Over half of the class showed up for the 50th. Considering over 20 of has have died, I think that was a pretty good turnout. Everyone that showed up had a great time. I moved out West 40 years ago, and hadn’t kept in close contact with many people, but, it was great seeing everyone. No one was on a high horse about what they had accomplished and how they were better than anyone else. I even got a small award for the most class spirit because I bicycled 1,900 miles from Albuquerque to Cleveland to attend the 50th! By the 50th, there were no cliques or groups or judging. Everyone was glad to see everyone.
I was willing to go to my 10th but was unenthused enough that in the end, I did not. I’ve felt no urge to go to one since. FTR, I had an okay time in my teen years, except for the actual school part; it was pretty boring and I skipped out to attend college classes ASAP.
here’s what I discovered:
10th year reunion = Fun.
Interesting, to see people who you remember-- some fairly well, others only vaguely.
Conversations are personal, but superficial. After the 30th “how are you, are you married, where do you work, oh, that’s nice”— it gets tedious; but it’s interesting to see how people turned out, some people surprise you by how much they have changed, and you see a couple of familiar faces with whom you actually have something interesting to share. Of the people who show up, almost all are the “successful” types, but there are one or two of the burned-out dropouts --still wearing sandals and working (barely)as bartenders or musicians.So it kept things interesting.
20th year reunion =Less Fun.
Only the “successful” types are in attendance. Conversations are even more superficial. Many people wearing suits ,and want to discuss the stock market, or their business ventures.
30th year reunion.
I say to myself “why bother?. It’ll be even more superficial.”
But I read the invitation carefully before tossing it into the trash can.
I’ve never been to our high school reunions. I’d very much like to but I live almost exactly on the other side of the world now, so it is unlikely that I’d ever go. They had the 20 year last year.
I had a reasonably good high school experience, and Facebook suggests that the nice folks stayed nice and many of the less nice folks grew up a bit as they aged.
No. I fucking hated high school. I’ve no desire to see anyone I went to school with. Ever.
I’d rather have serial root canals.
mmm
Class of '72 for some reason had a 9-year reunion. I attended, and it sucked. It was held in an armory with a live band, so conversation was impossible. No teachers attended, and the few people I was most interested in seeing again weren’t there.
I don’t think there were many other reunions, and what few occurred came to my attention after the fact. A year or two ago, there was a combined class of '71, '72, '73, '74, and maybe '75. Since its was just a couple of hours away and 2 of my closer friends were going, I got a ticket.
Small venue, TWO live bands, so impossible conversation again. Someone who was supposedly from my class came up to talk (YELL) to me, but I didn’t know who he was, even with his name badge - then again, there were about 850 in my class. A couple of weeks ago, there was another combined reunion in the same venue, but I didn’t bother. I left the area when I was 19 and apart from the few years we spent in school, I have nothing much in common with any of my former classmates.
Nope. I went to a large school and I don’t live nearby either. Plus, we were a fairly affluent school and most of us went to college. So, my class is scattered across the USA. I am Facebook friends with a few people and I’ve met up with a couple of them.
I did watch the VHS of the graduation ceremony a few years ago. I’ve forgotten about 95% of them. My yearbooks have either been lost or destroyed when rain got into the attic.
I went to 3 different high schools. The smallest class size was 12, the largest over 500. A classmate from the small school organized 5 and 10 year reunions but I had other plans both times. By the time 20 years rolled around I’d moved to the UK so cost was prohibitive. The big school had a Facebook page for the 35th which I followed to see what names I recognized. I can’t even remember names of anybody from the 2nd high school.
Graduating class of around 250, never been, won’t go to the upcoming 50th in two years, either. I don’t like the person I was in high school and see little pleasure in seeing those people and being reminded of a time I’d rather forget.