How people turn out after high school

[wnylib]

Wow. I just browsed through a web site maintained by my high school graduating class. It lists every member of the almost 600 students, along with their senior yearbook photos. The site keeps track of where people are (with updated photos), who has not been located yet, and who is deceased, along with their obituaries. So the most detailed info is on the deceased ones.

Some people just knew, in high school, what they would go on to do and become. Others were uncertain and had some surprising outcomes.

I was not surprised that the one who knew since grade school that she wanted to be a nurse became one. Same for the one who decided she would be a doctor, a guy who knew he would be a lawyer, and several who wanted to be teachers.

But the surprises showed zero inclination that I can remember of what they eventually became.

There was the kid whose family immigrated from Italy when we were in grade school and vowed all through junior high that he would go back as soon as he finished school and was on his own. He stayed, became a high school English teacher, then a principal.

There was the very good looking guy who seemed to have no interests outside of girls, drinking, and music. He did get a degree in music, but then served a tour in Vietnam and returned to study veterinary medicine. Opened his own vet clinic and developed some patented medicines. Who knew?

But the most surprising was the guy who was hyper social, cussed constantly, and seemed like the most shallow person I knew, always mooching off of people at lunch. I took him for a perpetual drifter who would live off of others forever.

He first majored in fine art, then went to a seminary, became an Orthodox priest, and then an archbishop. He developed an educational program for children, wrote and illustrated books, directed choirs, developed a church web page, became a director of communications for the American Orthodox Church, and took in immigrants from Russia and Eastern Bloc nations when the Soviet Union collapsed and helped them assimilate. He married and had two chiildren, one of whom also became an Orthodox priest. A late bloomer, I guess.

Amazing what a difference there can be in people between high school and later years.

[Hugh_Lebowski]

1. In high school I was a partying, skirt-chasing, singing & guitar-playing computer nerd

The fact that I'm still mostly those things (though perhaps more in spirit than reality) ... would surprise, I imagine, absolutely nobody.



That does sound like a really cool kind of website though, I wonder if our class has something like that?

[wnylib]

2. It really is a cool site.

There were so many kids in our graduating class that I couldn't possibly know all of them, but I do remember quite a few, outside of the friends I hung out with, because they had some classes with me, or we had gone to the same grade school and junior high.

It's interesting to see how much styles have changed since then, which ones look so mature and poised in their photos, and which ones look too young even for high school.

[Best_man23]

10. So what is the website?

Classmates.com? Inquiring minds want to know.

[wnylib]

11. No. Its title is simply the school name

and the graduating class year. Not related to Classmates.com.

The school itself doesn't even exist any more. It has been replaced by a newer one with a different name.

[Backseat Driver]

4. Someone on a reunion committee started a site somewhat like that...

but there are no mandatory life histories. Once registered, one may lurk and receive notifications, reveal more about themselves, participate via profiles that tell of colleges, occupations, marital and family anecdotes w/pics and/or communicate with other members of the class. The administrator does track the deceased members when they get word or an obituary. Often that includes teachers, principals, the status of elementary/junior high schools in the school system, some of which no longer exist. Heck, someone even shared a recipe of a signature dessert of the HS cafeteria that everyone loved! I agree that some revelations are very different than what one might assume about a past HS classmate.

[wnylib]

8. There are no mandatory life histories

on the website for my graduating class, either. The information that I found was either volunteered by the individual or appeared in obituaries that were posted in a link to their name and photo.

Some class members have submitted current photos of themselves, their spouses, and children or grandchildren. The girls' names include both maiden and married names, when the married name is known.

It's fun to compare the yearbook pictures with the current ones.

[NJCher]

3. That's fascinating

I particularly enjoyed the story in your last paragraph.

I had a job for about four years where I interviewed literally thousands of people. At the conclusion of that job, I decided that a fairly high percentage of people actually go into some line of work for which they have an innate talent or ability.

[Hugh_Lebowski]

5. If that were true I'd be a rock star or a gigolo for sure

[NJCher]

6. I'll bet you are a gigolo

And just won’t admit it.

[Hugh_Lebowski]

7. Actually I'm unemployed ... I mostly just bowl, drink white russians, do J's, that kind of thing ...

Though if my lady-friend Maude calls, I've been known to do some gigolo duties ...

[LittleGirl]

9. My high school has a page like that.

Graduation dates from 1942 ? To present as the school still exists.

I’m the only one who lives in Switzerland.

[wnylib]

12. Mine was a very old school that went back

much farther. But it no longer exists. It hss been replaced by a newer building at a different location, with a different name.