High School reunions

[pwd72s]

Anybody here bother to go to 'em? Just got one for my class of 1961. I went to the 20th. Since I wasn't one of the cool kids then, it was a mistake to go. So, I just shred 'em when they arrive. Maybe this one would be interesting just to find out who's still alive?

[GH85Carrera]

I went to my 10th reunion only so far. I had no long term or life long friends there as I was in the area for just two years as a military brat. I was the photographer for the school newspaper and yearbook, so I was there taking picture of all the really OLD geezers that came back for their 50th reunion. My 50th is coming up in a few years. I have not changed a bit since high school.

I may well go to the 50th just to see some of the former classmates. I really have not thought of it much.

[masraum]

Dad was in the Navy. I bounced around schools every 2.5 - 3 years starting when I was ~6. I went to the HS that I graduated from for 2.5 years. There were ~700 people in my graduating class and around 3300 in the whole school. I left the area for college and have never been back. I don't have much interest in going to a reunion. I'd be curious to see photos with names of folks from school that I could browse online.

I'd actually love to spend a few weeks or a month traveling to places that I've lived just to see how they've changed and maybe see a couple/few folks while I was there, but I'm also not going to spend a lot of time and money doing that. I'd rather just go on vacation.

[Noah930]

I'm actually on the planning committee for my 30th HS reunion. Any ideas on how to hold something like this via Zoom? We had about 130 graduates, but you can't have 80 people talking with each other one at a time via Zoom. We were actually fairly tight knit. About once a year maybe a dozen of us get together for dinner. Maybe about 70 percent probably live in the SoCal area,.but we've got grads throughout the country.

[MRM]

I did not enjoy high school but I enjoy high school reunions and I encourage others to go to them. I was still in the area when our 5th year reunion occurred and it was convenient so I went. As everyone gathered and the inevitable petty rivalries started bubbling to the surface, one of my more well adjusted friends kept repeating, "Let bygones be bygones." I took his advice and eventually relaxed, only to realize by the end of the evening that I had thoroughly enjoyed myself. I have no contact with anyone in my class other than our five year reunions, but I always make sure to go and I am always pleasantly surprised at how my classmates have turned into (mostly) responsible and fully functioning adults. It's like a time machine for me, where everyone is frozen in my mind as they were when we were in high school, with an updated snapshot every five years. These are the only people in the world who share the experience of us growing up. You should go. If you don't have high expectations you might be surprised.

[GH85Carrera]

Many of my classmates when to school from first grade to graduation from high school. I never knew anyone longer than two years. Off the top of my head I can't think of the name of one classmate. If I dug out my yearbook, I might remember several.

[MRM]

Originally Posted by Noah930

I'm actually on the planning committee for my 30th HS reunion. Any ideas on how to hold something like this via Zoom? We had about 130 graduates, but you can't have 80 people talking with each other one at a time via Zoom. We were actually fairly tight knit. About once a year maybe a dozen of us get together for dinner. Maybe about 70 percent probably live in the SoCal area,.but we've got grads throughout the country.

Start with the whole group in one room with one person acting as the MC introducing the meeting. Then send people to small breakout groups that are randomly assigned. Time the small groups for 15-30 minutes before people are switched again. After completing a few small groups, bring everyone back to the big group and let them self-select into three or four rooms dedicated to specific topics. You could appoint a sub-moderator for each small group to get the conversations started.

Make everyone fills out a brief update form so people know a little about who they're talking to before the zoom meeting, so everyone can start with easy topics to break the ice.

[onewhippedpuppy]

I graduated in 1998 and have never been to a reunion. But I also hated high school so no big shock there.

[stevej37]

Originally Posted by pwd72s

Anybody here bother to go to 'em? Just got one for my class of 1961. I went to the 20th. Since I wasn't one of the cool kids then, it was a mistake to go. So, I just shred 'em when they arrive. Maybe this one would be interesting just to find out who's still alive?

I graduated in 72....was amazed how small the last reunion was.

[LWJ]

I hated HS.

The 10 year reunion was awful. But, some folks got real fat so that was fun. The Senior Class President faked serious illness to avoid planning...

The 20 was great. People were so very real.

The 25 was ok. Like the super hot chick who told me "I would have LOVED to date you in HS." Damn. Right in front of my wife. And the ultra hot chick that couldn't stop crying how life didn't turn out the way she wanted. Sheesh. Born too beautiful, I guess.

We didn't have a 30. Not sure why?

I have to say the reunions were way better than school.

[Jeff Higgins]

I wasn't one of the cool kids either. I played what was then a weird sport to even find at the high school level - soccer. I actually lettered all three years, and was the only sophomore starting on the varsity squad. But it wasn't football... Beyond that, I was a nerdy geek, taking all of the "hard" classes - calculus, physics, chemistry, etc. Didn't go to many of the dances or other events. Pretty easy kid to miss in a graduating class of almost 300.

So, I went to my tenth, and no one there knew who I was. Same thing happened at my 20th, except since they didn't know who I was, and unlike many classmates I wasn't yet going bald and getting fat - and I had arrived in a "nice" car - some of the ladies paid a little attention. They were all dressed to the "nines", many trying to stuff themselves into their high school clothes. And they were all divorced... When they found out that I had been happily married for about twelve years they suddenly lost interest. Then I didn't go again until my 40th. Same drill - several ladies who could have sworn they knew me and we must have dated noticed I had arrived in a "Poorsh". Found out I have been happily married for over 30 years, and suddenly couldn't remember having dated me... Kind of a sad spectacle for a lot of those people, really.

I did, however, hook back up with one old friend. One who had not bothered ever going to a reunion until that 40th because, well, he wasn't one of the cool kids either. We now keep in touch and ride motorcycles together. They want to do a 45th and not wait for a 50th. We'll see.

[ckelly78z]

Originally Posted by Noah930

I'm actually on the planning committee for my 30th HS reunion. Any ideas on how to hold something like this via Zoom? We had about 130 graduates, but you can't have 80 people talking with each other one at a time via Zoom. We were actually fairly tight knit. About once a year maybe a dozen of us get together for dinner. Maybe about 70 percent probably live in the SoCal area,.but we've got grads throughout the country.

I would say with all honesty, "let's have a 31st HS reunion next year".

[SiberianDVM]

My 50th was in 2019. Thought about going, but I realized that of all of the people on Facebook (about a 100) who were going, not a single one was someone I called a friend in HS. So I used my real excuse of recovering from back surgery to miss it.

[URY914]

I go to mine. Some of us have been friends since 1st and 2nd grade.

[ckelly78z]

I graduated in 1983, and went to the 5th (might as well been an extension of high school, very clickish), skipped the 10th, and went to the 25th. The 25th seemed to be genuine where everyone talked to everyone.

I came from a small school with only 65 in the graduating class, and being in that class for the full 12 years, I knew everyone, and most of their stories.

[pete3799]

Graduated in 72.....never been to a reunion.

[unclebilly]

I almost went to my 10th but decided not to since i could go to a bar in my home town, run into half the class and pick up a convo from grade 12 like I just stepped away from the table to go to the bathroom... I'm in touch with some of my highschool fiends via FB (those I care to associate with). Its amazing how many 'I've been clean and sober for 1 year' posts I see from many of the hot girls from HS...

If there is a 30 year in 2022, I might go.

[flipper35]

Graduated in '86 and have not yet gone to a reunion. While I have seen classmates, I have no desire to go to a reunion.

[peppy]

I have never received information for my class reunions! I know that they have had them but I think it was for just the cool kids.

[legion]

I went to my 10 year. It was mildly fun. I had a huge class (750+) and didn't really see anyone that I knew. It was really just an experience of talking to strangers who spent the same four years in the same building as me. I have not heard of any reunions since then. I kind of suspect that the organizers are people I don't know and therefore don't put any effort into finding me and I have no idea who they are.

My high school had 4000+ people in it my senior year. Everything was very competitive. So competitive that you could really only pick one thing to do and hope to be good enough to do it. All of the varsity football players saw personal trainers and trained year-round. They didn't have time for other sports lest they wouldn't be good enough for football. Basketball, baseball, gymnastics, swimming, they were all the same. There were probably less than 20 kids in the whole school who played more than one sport. But it wasn't just sports. Want to be in the band? You better be taking private lessons. Want to be in the drama club? You better be taking acting lessons. Everything was like that. I was a kid who wanted to try a few things and because I didn't put in the time and effort to concentrate on one thing, I wasn't good enough at anything to make it onto the team/into the club/etc.. I ended up not doing anything as a result. Yes, most of the varsity football players went on to get full rides at D1 schools. Most of the band members went on to get music scholarships to Northwestern or wherever. But my guestimate is that between 25% and 50% of the school didn't participate in anything.

In college, I roomed with a bunch of guys who went to much smaller schools. One went to a private Catholic high school that had 100 students, total. Everyone was expected to play a fall, winter, and spring sport. Any clubs had to be scheduled around the sports so that there were enough people to participate. Complete opposite of my experience.