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Post by lucilleaustero on Apr 13, 2021 12:25:18 GMT -6
I feel like some of this is tied to school size. I graduated with 224 kids. My husband's class had over 1000 kids, so there were no defined groups. I cannot imagine having a class that size (either of those numbers). Mine was 67 and was huge. Average is around 45. My school was one of the smaller ones for my area. But, LI has an insane population density.
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AnnPerkins
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Post by AnnPerkins on Apr 13, 2021 12:25:36 GMT -6
My senior superlative was Best Laugh. I actually won Best Artist as well, but I was only allowed to hold one title and felt having a good laugh made me more interesting. Teens, man.
That being said, I was one of 3 kids that took art all 4 years in our ~100 person class. I also did theater make-up and was in the chorus a few times for our Spring musicals. Not super popular, but I had a group of funny people I liked and that was enough for me.
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Post by coffeecake on Apr 13, 2021 12:35:41 GMT -6
I feel like some of this is tied to school size. I graduated with 224 kids. My husband's class had over 1000 kids, so there were no defined groups. I cannot imagine having a class that size (either of those numbers). Mine was 67 and was huge. Average is around 45. The high school my kids will go to has about 1200 kids per class as of now!
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Post by lunarscallion on Apr 13, 2021 12:37:21 GMT -6
I hung out with a lot of different groups. I was in honors and AP so had friends who were very academically focused. But I was more into partying so hung out with a lot of that crowd too. And my neighborhood friends were skaters/stoners which was definitely my comfort zone. And I took classes at the local college too so had a different group of friends from there that I partied with. A photo recently surfaced of me at an A Perfect Circle concert wearing a black corset and heavy eyeliner so there was a touch of goth thrown in there too. I kind of forgot that corsets were a popular look. 😅
In retrospect, a lot of people knew me and liked me but I was never the level of popular to run for student government or get a yearbook superlative. I didn’t even know who our class president was because I didn’t care about that. (Until there was drama that she was skimming money from our 10 year reunion fund which blew up in the Facebook group.) I think I was 4th in my class of 400+ so that got me cred with the academic kids but I also partied hard which got me credit with the “cool” kids. In reality I was a really depressed kid who was stumbling through.
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Diordra
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Post by Diordra on Apr 13, 2021 12:42:46 GMT -6
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Post by lunarscallion on Apr 13, 2021 12:43:36 GMT -6
I think most 'popular' kids don't self-identify as popular (then, or now) because that's not how they see themselves. That's the fucked up part of growing up and being a teenager - you have a hard time seeing yourself and you are always pining after others and comparing yourself. So you are always looking to be something else. Obviously, I know there are outliers, but I think this is the general teen-aged experience, right? Insecurities abound, even if there is no reason from the outside looking in. Even if others deem you 'popular' that does not resonate with how you see yourself. We torture ourselves. Maybe I am just outing myself in terms of my struggles. Who knows. I think this is true. I was close friends with a really popular cheerleader because she worked with me at my after school job and we hit it off. She had just as many insecurities as my nerdy friends- they wished they looked like her and she wished she could get grades like theirs to make her parents proud. Everyone is struggling.
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mc13
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Post by mc13 on Apr 13, 2021 12:45:34 GMT -6
Definitely a jock as I graduated with 8 Varsity letters, but outside of my sports teams, I identified/hung out with nice girls who flew under the radar.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 13, 2021 12:48:43 GMT -6
I think most 'popular' kids don't self-identify as popular (then, or now) because that's not how they see themselves. That's the fucked up part of growing up and being a teenager - you have a hard time seeing yourself and you are always pining after others and comparing yourself. So you are always looking to be something else. Obviously, I know there are outliers, but I think this is the general teen-aged experience, right? Insecurities abound, even if there is no reason from the outside looking in. Even if others deem you 'popular' that does not resonate with how you see yourself. We torture ourselves. Maybe I am just outing myself in terms of my struggles. Who knows. I think this is true. I was close friends with a really popular cheerleader because she worked with me at my after school job and we hit it off. She had just as many insecurities as my nerdy friends- they wished they looked like her and she wished she could get grades like theirs to make her parents proud. Everyone is struggling. Meh there's truly nice people who struggle and assholes who struggle. The ones who were like "oh no I'm not PoPuLaR I'm just friends with a lot of different people!" Were the assholes. At least in my school. I think they denied the popularity because people in my school associated the popularity with being an asshole. I remember that talking to them one on one was decently pleasant but around their friends they were dicks to me and my friends. And one of them told me privately once how I had no idea how much pressure it was to fit in. That same girl made the signs about me with her friends. You don't get a pass for being an asshole cause you have shitty fake friends.
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Post by Rusty Red on Apr 13, 2021 12:54:50 GMT -6
I was also salutatorian. Missed valedictorian by a damn B in gym class. I'm still bitter.
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Dr. Cox
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Post by Dr. Cox on Apr 13, 2021 12:55:19 GMT -6
I am friends on FB with some people from my graduating class. Always gives me a chuckle when some talk about the “good old days” and wish they could go back to that time. Must have sucked to have peaked in high school. The bitchy popular girls are all shilling MLMs and only one left our miserable hometown, to my knowledge. The asshole guys are mostly cops with the occasional attorney. They’re all still there, acting like they’re still relevant.
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Post by filingjointly on Apr 13, 2021 12:58:41 GMT -6
I was a nerd in HS. Science Olympiad, Debate, Scholastic Bowl, as many AP classes as I could cram into my schedule, etc. I had a great group of like-minded friends and mostly enjoyed my first three years.
Senior year I accidentally started dating MH who was like, Homecoming King, Two Varsity Sports, popular kid. And I had a weird time of it with his crowd.
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Pistol
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Post by Pistol on Apr 13, 2021 12:59:21 GMT -6
I was not popular. We had a small school so there was a lot of blending between groups. The popular kids drank and maybe a little weed but that was it. They still got good grades and typically were into sports. I was what I guess you would call "middle class" in that I was friends with some popular kids, others would start rumors about me and do their best to make my life hell with teasing and making fun of me. Then you had the druggies group which some of the less weird ones would hang out with us a little like at lunch or something but never really outside of school.
I was in drama though I never had a lead part. Ran track. Took hard classes. Stuff like that. There were a few guys that I was friends with and when I admitted to crushing on them they ghosted me and told everyone I was a lesbian, which early 2000s in rural Ohio did not go over well. But I still managed to enjoy some parts of high school with my few friends I did have. There was about 5 or 6 of us in a group and we would do things like square dancing, bowling, going to movies, etc that was fun.
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TheoV2
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Post by TheoV2 on Apr 13, 2021 12:59:29 GMT -6
I was an art kid/library worker and my friends group was the more alternative crowd. I was definitely not popular.
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Post by GhoatMonket on Apr 13, 2021 13:01:36 GMT -6
I was also salutatorian. Missed valedictorian by a damn B in gym class. I'm still bitter. I missed being top 10% with an A- one quarter in chemistry. They were out to 6 decimal places to break ties. Had I been in the class above or below I would have been either valedictorian or salutiorian. My class was ridiculous.
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Post by ♪♫choppinbroccoli♫♪ on Apr 13, 2021 13:02:41 GMT -6
I hung out with a lot of different groups. I was in honors and AP so had friends who were very academically focused. But I was more into partying so hung out with a lot of that crowd too. And my neighborhood friends were skaters/stoners which was definitely my comfort zone. And I took classes at the local college too so had a different group of friends from there that I partied with. A photo recently surfaced of me at an A Perfect Circle concert wearing a black corset and heavy eyeliner so there was a touch of goth thrown in there too. I kind of forgot that corsets were a popular look. 😅 In retrospect, a lot of people knew me and liked me but I was never the level of popular to run for student government or get a yearbook superlative. I didn’t even know who our class president was because I didn’t care about that. ( Until there was drama that she was skimming money from our 10 year reunion fund which blew up in the Facebook group.) I think I was 4th in my class of 400+ so that got me cred with the academic kids but I also partied hard which got me credit with the “cool” kids. In reality I was a really depressed kid who was stumbling through. God, I live for this shit.
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jorkzy
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Post by jorkzy on Apr 13, 2021 13:04:45 GMT -6
I feel like some of this is tied to school size. I graduated with 224 kids. My husband's class had over 1000 kids, so there were no defined groups. Yes, this. I went to a huge high school and didn’t know prob half the people. I think there were 700 or 900 kids in my HS graduating class.
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Pistol
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Post by Pistol on Apr 13, 2021 13:04:57 GMT -6
I feel like some of this is tied to school size. I graduated with 224 kids. My husband's class had over 1000 kids, so there were no defined groups. I cannot imagine having a class that size (either of those numbers). Mine was 67 and was huge. Average is around 45. We had 63 which was about normal. The class after mine was 87 and that was a giant class. But then the following year was back down in thr 50s. I think my brother (5 years younger than me) had 70 something in his class. I feel it made a lot of blurring between "groups".
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wasabi
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Post by wasabi on Apr 13, 2021 13:17:01 GMT -6
This was most likely not true of the first high school I went to (I wasn’t there long enough to remember), but the high school I graduated from the popular kids were mostly not assholes. I was friends with a lot of the “popular” kids but definitely wasn’t popular myself, and they were some of the nicest people I met there. One of my best friends was home coming queen and I never saw her even be a little bit mean. I’m sure there were some mean kids, but it definitely wasn’t how a lot of people talk about the popular kids being the biggest jerks.
I was in track and for a bit was the “new kid.” Which is probably why I made friends with the “popular” kids because there weren’t a lot of new kids coming in to that school then and they were desperate for new faces 😂
I don’t really know how to describe my high school self beyond that. I was super depressed after I moved and kind of just floated through it not giving a shit about anything.
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gingy
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Post by gingy on Apr 13, 2021 13:24:48 GMT -6
wasabi, the popular crowd in my class was similar. There was a lot of crossover between the "preppy" (upper crust) kids and the AP/Honors kids. They were athletes AND brains AND super social. I ended up around them a lot due to my Honors classes, and they were [almost] never assholes.
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Post by northernlghts on Apr 13, 2021 13:28:17 GMT -6
Loner. I did theater in high school but I never hung out with the theater kids. I had a few people I talked to at school but I never really hung out with them outside of school. We went to Disney one year to perform and I spent most of the trip walking around Disney by myself. No one bullied me in high school so that's good.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 13, 2021 13:29:41 GMT -6
wasabi, the popular crowd in my class was similar. There was a lot of crossover between the "preppy" (upper crust) kids and the AP/Honors kids. They were athletes AND brains AND super social. I ended up around them a lot due to my Honors classes, and they were [almost] never assholes. We called the popular kids the preps so that's who I'm referring to. There were nice kids that were loved by everyone. The preps were mostly jocks and cheerleaders. It was like subgroups I guess. I don't think the word prep is used now anymore, or it was regional. But it was common in the aughts in my area lol The preps were... very much dicks and assholes and all the other body parts. Hair flinging and flipping and such fake niceties. But there were definitely nice kids that were well liked by all. But those aren't who I mean. And the preps are usually the same personalities when they're adults.
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tookie
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Post by tookie on Apr 13, 2021 13:42:21 GMT -6
I was part of an “outcast” group who didn’t fit anywhere, and I was also well known and well liked, except for everyone who bullied me for being disabled.
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Post by spicysalmonroll on Apr 13, 2021 13:43:06 GMT -6
My class had 120 people. I guess I was kinda popular just in the fact that I was friends with many groups, but I wasn't in with THE popular group if that makes sense. Like if I were on Saved by the Bell, I would have been Kelly's childhood soccer friend but not actually sit at the Max with her, you know? lol I was voted best dressed senior year... mostly because I wore scandalous stuff so the boys voted for me LOL
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Post by Rusty Red on Apr 13, 2021 13:44:32 GMT -6
I think our graduating class was 169 maybe.
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Post by lunarscallion on Apr 13, 2021 13:45:18 GMT -6
I hung out with a lot of different groups. I was in honors and AP so had friends who were very academically focused. But I was more into partying so hung out with a lot of that crowd too. And my neighborhood friends were skaters/stoners which was definitely my comfort zone. And I took classes at the local college too so had a different group of friends from there that I partied with. A photo recently surfaced of me at an A Perfect Circle concert wearing a black corset and heavy eyeliner so there was a touch of goth thrown in there too. I kind of forgot that corsets were a popular look. 😅 In retrospect, a lot of people knew me and liked me but I was never the level of popular to run for student government or get a yearbook superlative. I didn’t even know who our class president was because I didn’t care about that. ( Until there was drama that she was skimming money from our 10 year reunion fund which blew up in the Facebook group.) I think I was 4th in my class of 400+ so that got me cred with the academic kids but I also partied hard which got me credit with the “cool” kids. In reality I was a really depressed kid who was stumbling through. God, I live for this shit. It was amazing. She quoted what the price per person would be for the venue but she didn’t realize someone from our class was a manager there and was familiar with the price structure. So he asked what else that ticket price included (like a photographer or something) since she was charging more for the tickets than the venue was asking. She went round and around evading the question and finally admitted that she felt she deserved a cut since she lived out of state and planning the event remotely was a lot of work. 😂 From what I heard, about 10 people of the 420 in our class attended.
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wasabi
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Post by wasabi on Apr 13, 2021 13:47:13 GMT -6
wasabi, the popular crowd in my class was similar. There was a lot of crossover between the "preppy" (upper crust) kids and the AP/Honors kids. They were athletes AND brains AND super social. I ended up around them a lot due to my Honors classes, and they were [almost] never assholes. Yeah, same. I was in AP and that’s how I met a lot of them.
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Post by ♪♫choppinbroccoli♫♪ on Apr 13, 2021 13:51:02 GMT -6
God, I live for this shit. It was amazing. She quoted what the price per person would be for the venue but she didn’t realize someone from our class was a manager there and was familiar with the price structure. So he asked what else that ticket price included (like a photographer or something) since she was charging more for the tickets than the venue was asking. She went round and around evading the question and finally admitted that she felt she deserved a cut since she lived out of state and planning the event remotely was a lot of work. 😂 From what I heard, about 10 people of the 420 in our class attended. Cackling
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Minerva
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Post by Minerva on Apr 13, 2021 13:53:13 GMT -6
Geek (AP classes and honor roll) but I was friends with people from every "group". 🤷🏼♀️ I guess this is how I would classify myself. I wouldn’t say I was in the popular crowd at all, but those of us in IB classes and generally focused on academics just sort of had our own group. I also played golf and had my friends from that team, but golf doesn’t exactly scream “jock”, lol. This is how I was. Nerdy, quiet, with a tight group of close friends who were also a little nerdy and offbeat. I was on good terms with almost everyone else at my extremely small girls school and very involved in the nerdy clubs (Model UN and mock trial) and sports (volleyball and basketball). I wasn’t popular, but I wasn’t unpopular, and I had a lot of fun once I settled in to HS.
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olenka
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Post by olenka on Apr 13, 2021 13:56:50 GMT -6
I moved a bunch of times before high school, having to make friends and then lose them every couple years, so by the time I got to high school I was pretty meh about fitting into a group. I did like the little goth contigent at our school, otherwise I was pretty bored.
My social time outside of school was me and my boyfriend driving into Philly to hang out on South Street, going to heavy metal shows, or just foolin' around.
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Post by filingjointly on Apr 13, 2021 13:58:53 GMT -6
wasabi, the popular crowd in my class was similar. There was a lot of crossover between the "preppy" (upper crust) kids and the AP/Honors kids. They were athletes AND brains AND super social. I ended up around them a lot due to my Honors classes, and they were [almost] never assholes. This is really similar to my high school as well. And most of the “popular” kids were nice people. But I had some weird run-ins with others when I started dating MH. Some were condescending “Look at how nice I’m being to you, lesser person!” And others pretended I didn’t exist. They were the minority at least. I was in a 1000-ish student class so there were a ton of people in each social tier or whatever.
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