when i was a sophomore in high school, the school district changed the boundaries for all the local high schools and i was set to go from providence high school to east mecklenburg high school. this would have been no big deal except for the fact that my sister was a junior when all of this happened. what this meant for her was that they didn't change the boundary for her class since it was their incoming senior year, but that would leave me going to a different high school than my sister. and then there was also the problem of seminary, which i went to every day before high school at 6am, thankyouverymuch. the short story is that i stayed with my sister and i didn't look back.
i had friends that were staying at my high school and i was heavily involved in the color guard and winter guard at the time, so it wasn't a big deal to me. of course i was a huge nerd in high school, but i had a fairly good time and enjoyed my experience, until now.
a few facebook groups have been created and i have been invited. these groups are for people who are invited to the upcoming 10 year reunion. one for the high school i went to, and one for the high school that i was supposed to attend, but didn't. the real problem that i've found since then is that when i stayed at providence high school instead of switching, most of the kids that i grew up with - since 2nd grade - changed schools. these are the kids that i sat with on the bus every day. we had quite the neighborhood posse - i'd say that there were about 20 of us kids who were all around the same age and our families all moved into the neighborhood around the same time. pretty much, we grew up together. i bought them christmas presents every year back in the day and have been delighted when they've added me as their friend on facebook so that i can sort of catch up on their lives.
i look at the photos listed on my high school's alumni website and i recognize the people. all the popular kids, at least. i know some of their names, but hardly any. heck - my senior year, i had no idea who the homecoming queen was until they announced her name, and i don't mean that the winner was a surprise. i mean that i had never even heard the girl's name until that moment. true story. her mom was also the swim team coach and word on the street was that she bribed her students to vote for her daughter. you be the judge.
anyway - what is making me sad about all of this is that i just checked the pictures on the-high-school-that-might-have-been's website and i know every person in every photo. for the most part though, i haven't seen any of these people since i was 15. these are the people i care about though. i want to know how they are and what they've been up to for the last 13 years. i'd say that 95 percent of the kids from my high school don't remember me and even more will never recognize me.
let's talk about this. go.
i had friends that were staying at my high school and i was heavily involved in the color guard and winter guard at the time, so it wasn't a big deal to me. of course i was a huge nerd in high school, but i had a fairly good time and enjoyed my experience, until now.
a few facebook groups have been created and i have been invited. these groups are for people who are invited to the upcoming 10 year reunion. one for the high school i went to, and one for the high school that i was supposed to attend, but didn't. the real problem that i've found since then is that when i stayed at providence high school instead of switching, most of the kids that i grew up with - since 2nd grade - changed schools. these are the kids that i sat with on the bus every day. we had quite the neighborhood posse - i'd say that there were about 20 of us kids who were all around the same age and our families all moved into the neighborhood around the same time. pretty much, we grew up together. i bought them christmas presents every year back in the day and have been delighted when they've added me as their friend on facebook so that i can sort of catch up on their lives.
i look at the photos listed on my high school's alumni website and i recognize the people. all the popular kids, at least. i know some of their names, but hardly any. heck - my senior year, i had no idea who the homecoming queen was until they announced her name, and i don't mean that the winner was a surprise. i mean that i had never even heard the girl's name until that moment. true story. her mom was also the swim team coach and word on the street was that she bribed her students to vote for her daughter. you be the judge.
anyway - what is making me sad about all of this is that i just checked the pictures on the-high-school-that-might-have-been's website and i know every person in every photo. for the most part though, i haven't seen any of these people since i was 15. these are the people i care about though. i want to know how they are and what they've been up to for the last 13 years. i'd say that 95 percent of the kids from my high school don't remember me and even more will never recognize me.
let's talk about this. go.
5 comments:
I would TOTALLY go to the reunion for East- that is the kids you remember, right? Speaking from experience, reunions are a time warp and everyone pretty much associates with the same people they did in high school- regardless of how much everyone says they are so excited to see everybody. If the East crowd is the crowd you would prefer to catch up with, go there. But hey- just my opinion. :)
I'd go to the one with the people that you really want to see.
SOOOO this kinda happened to me too. I grew up in NJ and went to school with people for a lot longer then when I moved to Utah my Junior year of HS. IF I went to the reunion in utah (which wouldn't be a big deal cause I live here and I did make some good friends) most of them wouldn't really know me or probably not care to much that I was there :) BUT my would have been 10 year with my NJ HS came up and I really wanted to go to that one, which I was invited... I'd say it doesn't matter that you didn't GRADUATE at that school but the fact that you have tons of friends there. What is the point of a HS reunion??? TO see your OLD FRIENDS! So go to the one you now more people! That will be more fun than the other!
*know
ok....speaking from experience here...we just had our 10 year reunion this past year too. (Class '98!) Ask yourself a few questions...
1. Who would you like to see?
2. Where are they having it?
3. Same time/same place?
4. Could you go to both of them?
5. You had friends at both schools, but are the majority of your friends that are ACTUALLY going to the reunion from Providence or from East?
6. Who would you want to see more, the friends from East or the friends from Providence?
6. Which sounds like more fun?
Our reunion was eghh..ok... they had it a popular and new bar uptown. Great and all, but not our scene. I'm an old married folk with kids. But the thing was, despite all that, the people I wanted to see, the people who I had lost contact with, were not even there! The people I did hang out with were the same people I still talk to today, with the exception of a few people. I got pictures of friends that I knew and caught up on some people and said hello to others, but it was like high school all over again. The popular kids in one area, the geeks in the other area, the band folk in another area, the misfits in another area....it was awkward. It was nice to see familiar faces and to pay respect to the ones that have seen passed away since graduating (a few to the war in Iraq and other random acts of violence) but it wasn't all that great. We had a champagne toast, crummy bar like food, really loud music and people smoking. By the end of the night I honestly lost my voice. I stay better in touch with people on facebook, how sad is that.
BUT.....if I were you, I'd try to go to both, but it sounds like you want to go the East reunion. Can you since you didn't graduate from there? Anyway...good luck deciding, and when you do come to town....call us, we'd LOVE to see you and you can meet the kiddos! Maybe we can mentioned in your blog! :-)
Love ya
Angela
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