Class of '94, folks, and I never had a problem. (Well, I did get in-school suspension once for fighting, but it had nothing to do with any type of popularity issue–mine or his.) I largely enjoyed high school and I still look back at my friendships and social experiences with some measure of fondness.
I’d say the group to which I belonged was an upper-middle/independent faction. My girlfirend was 1st-chair flute, a tennis player and in the gifted program; her best friend was/is drop-dead gorgeous (and still single in Chicago for those of you who–nah… she’d kill me ;)), a tennis player and in the gifted program; all of my other friends were in the gifted program, too (in additon to acting, playing sports, etc…).
If given the choice I wouldn’t go back because I like my life much better now (and I’d never give up auntie em), but I don’t regret my four years.
[Minor Hijack]
By the way, if you want to take a gander at some of your fellow Dopers as they were in high school, take a look-see at this site.
Updates/additions can be sent to me at my e-mail address.
[/Minor Hijack]
Had a large circle of friends from varying cliques within the school, was one of the “popular” kids, participated in a sports, theater, and student government. Was voted “friendliest” and “best dressed” in my senior class.
Had a good time in high school and wouldn’t have any hesitation about doing it all over.
I was one of the rare exceptions where I pretty much fit in everywhere. Strangley, it remains true today.
I guess it proves that it’s up to ME where I want to associate myself and not who is willing to accept me.
Also, it probably adds to my ADD that, I can hang with the jocks for a while and actually be one, then get bored of that, hang with the marching band members and actually be one, and get bored of that and hang out with my “burn-out” friends in our garage band.
Funny, I’m still trying to figure out which one I REALLY am.
One of my regrets was that it turns out that I could have gone with the best “piece-of-ass” to the Prom. I didn’t know this till later when she told me that she would have broken up with her college boy friend had I pursued her more. DAMN.
Just in case you’re wondering ladies, it’s these types of situations that make us men pushy at times. We’re thinking, “I’m not letting this go so easily like I did in HS”. Of course, if you’re not interested, we’re just assholes at that point. If you’re interested, the story would read, –in a high pitched voice with hands waving– “Oh, he just wouldn’t take no for an answer. He just HAD to have me”.
Whatever the results, our methods remain the same. I digress
Grades 1-5: Big-time loser (dorky hair, glasses, clothes, bad haircut, bad front teeth.) I was also ridiculed for not liking sports and having few friends.
Grade 6- Got bad front teeth straightened, but other problems, such as acne, began to develop, keeping my dork status in place.
Grade 7- Still a loser, but with longer hair, and horrible case of acne. Kids in gym class mock me for my lack of athletic prowess. Shyness and inability to express interest in girls arouses false suspicions of my being gay.
Grade 8- Decided to tame the hair again, got on Accutane to combat acne, got a better style of glasses, developed sense of fashion with clothes. Make musical preferences (heavy metal) known. Loser status diminishes, but still not very popular.
Grade 9- Sense of fashion continues to develop and evolve with changes in trends. Acne cleared up. Finally develop interest in girls. Status improves, but still not anywhere close to being in the upper echelon of popularity.
Grades 10-12- Attain some status for being in band, doing well in Spanish class. Most of the jerks either have moved on or have finally matured a little. I never participated in any extra-curricular activities nor did I ever belong to any official or unofficial school clubs.
Hm. Letsee… Well, I started highschool hanging out with the Lisa Simpson crowd, although As came relatively easily, I didn’t love academics as much as my friends – perhaps in this respect I was a bit of an underachiever. shrug
I was already working in arts and performing arts outside of school, so my very best friends were from a theatre company and we were all from different highschools and had different backgrounds. That made the whole highschool dynamic different for all of us, since the social group that mattered most didn’t involve the in-school pecking order.
Then I switched highschools to take advantage of a different curriculum.
As a “stranger” to the new school, I ended up with a rather nebulous in-school persona. I was on respectable terms with the popular preppies though wasn’t buddy-buddy with them. I probably wouldn’t have ever shared a table in the cafeteria with them unless we were working on a project together, but we could carry on amicable conversations. I got a long with the kids in the smoking pit in the same way. I meshed easiest with the all-black wearing drama kids. And I respected the brainiacs, so we got along.
So was I a “popular” kid. Nah, not really. With my true social circle outside of school, I was always “the visitor” and had a “decent” rapport with co-students in general. I mostly hung out with a similarly placed/displaced group (many of whom were in the same boat of having started highschool someplace else).
So I suppose highschool was painless enough – neither dramatically fond memories nor particularly negative ones.
I was in a large, very good music program in a good-sized school. Because of the quality of the band program, we attracted wide cross-section of people with at least one similar interest… music. So, that helped with social barriers. As far as me personally, I had a fairly middle-of-the-road existance. No real horror stories, no great “high-school hero” experiences. I was definitely a band guy, but at least I/we had a bit of respect from the school at large.
I was a ‘cool nerd’ which means I was alternately accepted and rejected by each and every group. In the end I got tired of false friends and just kept to myself.
I was voted “Class Favorite.” I shit you not. I was also runner-up in the “Best Looking,” “Best Athlete,” and “Most Likely to Succeed” categories. (Can you believe we even voted on that type of stuff?)
I was a three-year letterman in 2 sports. I was in AP classes and got straight A’s without studying. My dating life was good. I hung around with everyone, regardless of cliques. I tried to be nice to everyone, and they were generally nice to me. I didn’t smoke or drink and rarely got in trouble (although we certainly broke many, many rules). I could also handle myself in a fight and wasn’t afraid to do so, and my closest friends probably exceeded me in that regard, so we didn’t get too much shit, even when we were freshmen.
I still keep in touch with many of my best friends from high school, even though we now live in different cities and are at different points in our lives. Three came up and stayed with me a few weeks ago, I talked to one on the phone yesterday, and two others are coming up to visit me next week.
I don’t know if high school was the best time of my life, but it was certainly a good time for me.
I went to two high schools. The first one was in the district I had been in since second grade. Then, in the middle of 11th grade we moved to another high school, where I stayed until graduation.
Both were rather large by upstate New York standards…my graduating class consisted of approximately 650 kids and the first school was roughly as big.
I was a nerd. We got no respect at all at the first school, some respect at the second one. I was also on the fringes of the Band group in both schools, but I wasn’t really hard core. I had no other clubs or activities…in retrospect I realize I hated school, and the last thing I wanted to do after the last class was sign up to spend more time there.
My best friend left our high school after ninth grade, my other best friend decided he wanted to graduate early so he never had free periods and I never saw him after ninth grade.
Anyway, at my first high school, the one where I had been in that district for 10 years, I would still get kids who didn’t know who I was, even if I had been in their classes several times over the years.
An anomaly. I didn’t give a shit about the school or the town or anyone in it, but I wasn’t a jerk about it. I rarely showed up, but I was valedictorian. I never hung out with anyone in the school, but I wasn’t a loser. I hung out with known post-high school pot heads, but I was/am a teetotaler. I had purple hair and was a vegetarian but I despised the straight-edge jerkoffs…
I was told by one of my friends just before the end of year 12, that everyone thought I was cold as ice and had no feelings! So that’s what my image was I guess.
My best friends and I changed groups a fair bit over the years, but then the groups did change, none of them were the same from year to year.
There was a group who considered themselves the ‘popular goup’, which meant they thought it was ok to be horrible to people they didn’t like. But, most people who weren’t in the group didn’t like them anyway.
I was in the athletics team and the cross country team, so I talked to the sporty types. I was in the band, so I talked to the music types. I was in the top maths and english classes so I talked to the geeky types.
It wasn’t really a big school, but I’d say most people knew me, or at least my name. I must have been fairly well liked because I was voted House Captain.
