People Explain What Happened To The Popular Kids In School
Reddit user Just_Suspect5904 asked: 'People Explain What Happened To The Popular Kids After School Ended'
Being in high school is such a pivotal moment in a young adolescent's life.
They discover who they are and where they want to be. They start making tough decisions about their future and forge bonds with individuals who may continue to influence them as they navigate the world post-graduation.
But as it often happens, we all drift apart due to going to different colleges or embarking on other adventures.
It's not until several years pass that we wax nostalgic about our youth and wonder about the people with whom we once roamed the halls, carrying our textbooks and fixated on inconsequential matters that seemed like a big deal then.
Curious to hear from strangers online, Redditor Just_Suspect5904 asked:
"What happened to the most popular kids in your school?"
The following Redditors opened up about acquaintances that left an indelible mark on their memory.
The Parents Were Wrong About Him
"One of my best friends was from the wrong side of the tracks, poor, had a mullet and wore Metallica shirts way before they broke into mainstream."
"He was extremely popular because he was crazy smart, very talented and driven. Everyone wanted to be his friend and he was very open about being nice to everyone."
"Many many parents were like 'don’t hang out with that John Smith boy, he’s on drugs and a bad influence' (He absolutely was not, it was the Satanic scare of the late 80s and 90s and he liked Metal Music)"
"He worked his as off all his life and is now pretty damn wealthy with a house, wife and kids in California."
"When we chat it up on the phone he is the exact same person I grew up with. Crazy funny and extremely kind."
– Vitaminpartydrums
No Chance For Goodbyes
"Most popular kid in our school was a guy named Josh. Insanely outgoing and friendly, he could befriend anyone he talked to within five seconds, and always did. Active athlete, was on the football team. Straight A student. Very devout church-goer. I didn't meet him until later in high school, where he was part of a Dungeons and Dragons game I joined. Always put on a great time role playing. While we didn't get close, we had a couple extraordinarily memorable times during our senior year of high school, very fun and meaningful times that stood out strongly to me then during a shitty part of my life and are still remembered fondly by me twenty years later. Josh was going places, and he'd make a difference somewhere."
"We lost touch after high school. Three years later he fell asleep behind the wheel of his truck and hit a tree. Died on impact. Found out through another friend who'd kept up with him, and we went to his funeral. I'd never seen a church so packed full of people for something like this, hundreds and hundreds of people. From our school, from his church, from all over life, the church was legitimately full."
"To this day, one of my few true lifelong regrets is letting my anxiety get the better of me when Josh's pastor asked people to come up to the mic and say something about Josh. I should've told everyone of our ludicrous all-nighter digging his truck out of the mud in a forest he'd gone mudding in after an evening school performance where we were all still in khakis and polos, finishing at three AM and somehow ending our bedraggled a**es at IHOP after getting it out."
"I should've told everyone how we found out our DnD GM was moving away on short notice, and we high-tailed it to his place after school and literally ran out of gas in that f**king truck getting there, then flooded the engine refilling it from a Jerry can, stuck with our GM who didn't want anyone coming to say goodbye and ending up late in the evening laying in that truck bed talking about science and philosophy and religion, three teenage dudes waiting for that goddamn f'king truck to get to a drivable condition so we could say goodbye to our friend properly before he disappeared from our lives."
"I'm nearing forty, and I still regret not saying how great of a guy he was to a short, scrawny, long-haired metalhead weirdo like I was in high school. Because he was. He was going to make a difference. I suppose, given all the people at his funeral, he still did."
– token_bastard
Some failed to make much of an impression enough to stand out.
However, a discourse on cliques was started in the thread.
Unpopular Majority
"My HS graduating class was 952 people, I do not even know who the most popular people were, lol."
– CorruptDictator
"My class was about that size and I remember always thinking that many of the high school stereotypes you would see on TV and film didn't seem to apply at a school that huge. People who might have been the school bully in a smaller school are properly segregated, and people who might have been an outcast in a smaller school could always find a clique of similarly minded weirdos. Popularity was never a school-wide thing because the orchestra people, the jocks, and goths, the potheads, etc. all had their own separate leaders. Also as a result we would often have a lot of cross-clique friendships and mixed parties where most people tended to be generally cool with each other."
– soretti
The Thing About Bullies
"Apparently the cliques happen in medium size schools because my exceptional small school only ever had one kid that could represent each kind of classic clique. I think the school bully trope is strange because from my experience people are a d*ck to different people in different ways that might be considered bullying. Like orchestra kids might have been a group but perhaps there was a bully within that group that picked on other orchestra kids"
– Mediocre_Scott
New York City Does High School Different
"Same. it was 850 kids in my class. NYC. so no 'campus' just a single secure building (one of my schools was actually inside a sky scraper), kids didnt leave to get lunch (without cutting class), nobody drove and there was no parking lot to hang out in, there was no Football team, and just none of the tropes you see in the media. A lot of us worked after school. 80-something languages were spoken. everyone was from somewhere else, so there was no 'new kid in town' tropes. we didn't even have lockers!
"We also don't all go to our 'local'; schools, so the kids you went to school with in Elementary school are a different set of kids than from your Jr High, and are a different set of kids from your High School. And on top of that, you also had your own set of friends from your 'hood/block, so its not like you ALWAYS were with the same kids all the time all through childhood."
"Like on TV, the kids you are in class with, are also from your neighborhood and you hung out with them outside of school, and they were also the same kids you played on sports teams with. in my world, those were always different sets of kids."
"Extremely different from all the Suburban High School TV and Movie sh*t."
– super-antinatalist
People closely examined more about the differences between popular/unpopular demographics.
Privilege
"Small town."
"There are always exceptions, but most kids who were 'popular' were friendly, outgoing, well dressed, and emotionally stable. That happened because they came from families with more money and better educated parents."
"Those parents often provided better mentoring, ensured they went to college, and as a result the kids ended up professionals who did reasonably well for themselves."
– BeKindAndWorkHard
Assumptions
"This is a very unpopular and underreported reality, as the unpopular kids desperately want to believe the popular guys end up working at the local gas station or Walmart once their days as sports stars or heartthrobs are gone. While the nerds go on to become rich and successful exactly because of reasons that made them unpopular in school."
"Unfortunately for them, popularity is often based on social status and people skills. Two key assets in life at any age."
– Kalle_79
Study Shows
"I remember reading a study that says high school bullies were more likely to be successful than the average student from their class. Once again because outgoing people who are willing to have that aggressive personality are likely to be able to succeed more than a passive timid person. If that bully grows out of being a bully they're still going to have that outgoing aggressive personality."
– Tritium10
Misconception
"They're doing fine. Contrary to what Reddit would have you believe, most of the popular kids in schools weren't bullies in my experience. They were kids who for the most part were nice, had a stable home life, and maybe happened to be fairly athletic."
– GoldenFrog14
I managed to keep in touch with a handful of people from high school; therefore, I didn't think about anyone else from my class year.
That's why I never considered going to my high school reunion.
It's because I realized there was never a time when I wondered about how the popular students at my school were doing these days.
Have you?
People Break Down 'The Incident' That Happened At Their High School
A deleted Reddit user asked: 'What was “the incident” at your high school?'
Nothing has more impact on our lives than the moments of adolescence.
Everything seems to be high stakes–especially in high school–where short-term goals like being popular and voted best-looking are the coveted status.
And when teens fall short of expectations, struggle with academics, and feel like breakups are the end of the world, they don't have the wisdom yet to know things eventually get better.
It's no wonder many successful TV series like 90210 feature teens. There's plenty of drama to entertain audiences who've either been there or are going through it themselves and find many of the plotlines are relatable.
But sometimes, there are plenty of unimaginable and horrific incidents that take place and are forever ingrained as part of the high school experience.
Curious to hear from strangers online about their teenage years, an anonymous Redditor asked:
"What was 'the incident' at your high school?"
Major school incidences ranged from the bizarre to tragedy.
Prank Gone Wrong
"Senior prank, someone dumped a few hundred pounds of flour and yeast into the school indoor pool, in hopes of turning it into a giant glob of dough (I guess). It didn’t work, just caused about 100K damage to plumbing, pumps, filters, etc. Prankster never caught."
– Sea_Ganache620
Cruel Morning
"In high school Two kids both named Logan. Both last names were very similar. One was popular and the other was not. Unpopular Logan was drunk and ran across a road in the middle of the night and was killed by a semi-truck."
"The next day the principal announced that popular Logan had died. Popular Logan was late for school."
"Everyone was very sad. Then popular Logan showed up and all school rejoiced that unpopular Logan was the one who died. Was f'ked up."
– AggressiveSmoke4054
Sudden Death
"A sophomore (my classmate) dropped unconscious in gym class and was rushed to the hospital. 3 days later they took him off life support and he died from a brain aneurysm."
"Edit to add: his funeral was held in the high school gym and damn near everyone went. Never in my life did I think I’d attend a funeral AT school."
– DisappointmentToMost
In The Nick Of Time
"A friend of mine in high school had a brain aneurysm, also as a sophomore. He'd been complaining for a few days about sudden, brief, very intense headaches. He was on the JV football team and went to play a game. Took a hard tackle and the aneurysm ruptured."
"That actually turned out to be the luckiest possible time for it to happen, because the school always had an ambulance on call at the side of the field during football games, so he was in the hands of EMTs within a minute of people realizing something was wrong. He was rushed to the hospital, they removed part of his skull to reduce the pressure on his brain and he spent a week or two in an induced coma. But in an absolute damn miracle, he made about as complete of a recovery as one can from that kind of injury; the only long-term effect was some very minor loss of muscle control in the left side of his face, so his smile was a little crooked."
"That was back in 2000."
"He just died three weeks ago from an accidental drug overdose."
– Lachwen
Lockdown
"A kid came to school with a machete and tree saw and slashed 7 students the day before Thanksgiving break."
"And a girl fell through the gym’s acoustic ceiling tiles and had to wear a halo."
– usfgirl1020
Incidences were not limited to just the students.
Murder
"A science teacher was beaten, chased and fatally set on fire by her husband who then shot himself."
– Fracture_98
Domestic Violence
"A teacher at the school I attended was being chased by her abusive husband. She drove to a police station with him following and tried to go inside but the doors were locked (it was some holiday). He shot her dead there and drove off. After that they made a rule to always have someone on staff and the doors unlocked."
– TheW83
There's no avoiding the brutal shaming that accompanies the high school experience.
Special Gym Class
"We had so many pregnant teen girls that they had their own gym class."
"A friend of mine who had a fake leg— he had a solid metal rod from mid thigh to mid calf from childhood leukemia so he couldn’t bend at the knee, was in the same class. Just this one poor guy and 30 pregnant 16 year olds."
"I was a teenager in the late 90s and grew up in the southeastern United States. It was a suburban area where a ton of people (still) identify as Evangelical Christians, it’s also called the Bible Belt. The required sex education classes didn’t teach anything but 'Just Say No' so there were girls who thought jumping up and down would prevent pregnancy. Not kidding. These were really sheltered girls who would attend Purity Dances, so it was quite a scandal that so many were pregnant at the same time. Most of the baby daddies were just dumb teenage boys who didn’t know the facts of life."
"Remember that there was no internet at this point so it’s not like teens could get information on their own especially if they were from a super religious background. A girl on my street was 'sent away' to live with an aunt when she got pregnant."
"Also, the pregnant girl gym class was technically for the physically disabled kids, hence why my friend was the lone guy in the class."
"His leg, from what he explained to me, had cancer in the bones of his knee. They didn’t want to amputate his whole leg so they removed the knee and grafted a rod in place— this would have been back in the late 80s so I’m sure they do stuff differently now."
– Malicious_Tacos
Students Can Be So Mean
"a girl had an epilepsy attack and she lost control of her bowels. Not a pretty sight."
"Mean girls type made fun of her, and she transferred to another high school."
– StuntCockofGilead
Teenagers deserve more credit than they're given.
These days, they are forced to grow up fast and learn important life lessons earlier than their parents like for them to experience due to various circumstances unfolding on campus.
If they can survive high school, they can survive almost anything in life past graduation.
People Explain Which Things Are Acceptable In 2022 That Weren't When They Were Growing Up
Societal norms gradually change over time, and it's not until a generation looks back and notices just how far they've come.
One of the major differences people from earlier generations find fascinating is how things were much more rigid compared to current times.
Curious to hear examples of this, Redditor FCFSDeals asked:
"What’s now weirdly acceptable in 2022 that was not acceptable growing up in your generation?"
Prior to cellphones, calling protocol was vastly different once upon a time.
Answering The Call
"Not answering the phone. When we only had landline phones (yes long time ago), there was no ringing phone that went unanswered. Now we screen or just plain ignore calls until we are good and ready to deal with it."
– ekimlive
Respectful Hours
"Also, no one expected to reach you at any time, 24-7. I miss those days."
– techretary
Proper Etiquette
"But there was phone etiquette: no solicitation calls; no polls; and nobody called after 9PM unless someone was in jail or the hospital."
– Positive-Source8205
Appearance guidelines seemed to have shifted between generations.
Body Art
"People have already said tattoos, but body piercings also exploded in popularity. It used to be girls could get their ears pierced, and that was it. When I was in high school, some guys started doing the one earring look and tongue, nose and bellybutton piercings were starting to become popular."
– viderfenrisbane
Comfort Is Priority
"Wearing sneakers to work at a fortune 100 company."
"At the beginning of my career it was suit and tie, then business casual and now I wear stan smiths, jeans and an untucked polo in the most senior position of my working life."
– Big_Requirement_3540
Casual Political
"I worked for the US Senate in 2009 (in a totally non-political job for the Senate Curator). I wore clothes from Hot Topic on the Senate floor. Some days I wore old jeans with holes in the knees if I knew I'd be climbing ladders to clean artworks. One of the women on the team had a full chest tattoo and made zero effort to cover it up because no one cared. The day I met Senator Inouye to discuss what paintings he wanted in his office, I had on trainers."
– ballerina22
Benefits Of Letting The Hair Down
"They realized that they can't erode wages and expect us to look like we're on Mad Men at the same time. Allowing long haired freaky people has made them sh*tloads of money over the years."
– throwawayqw123456
Hair Coloring & Tattoos
"Any type of hair coloring would result in serious trouble at school. I also remember tatoos being frown upon as being found mostly on people that got out of prison."
– no_cause_munchkin
The advent of the internet was a huge game changer, and rules were made up as we went along.
The Bandwidth Situation
"2 people using the internet at the same time."
– ProfessorPanga
Phones In The Classroom
"Middle/high school students being allowed to have their cell phones in class. Being caught with our cell phone when I was a high schooler was an automatic detention etc."
– TrumpHairedHarambe
Consequences Of Having A Phone On Campus
"I graduated in the late 90's, and the president of my class got expelled one week before graduation for having a phone on campus. It was in his car, and this was after hours. It rang and a teacher heard it. They made an example out of him. He lost his admission to West Point."
"Now my 8th grader finds it super unjust that her science teacher makes all the kids put their phones in a box at the front of the room during tests, and feels super justified in never ever giving up her airpods to that sort of thing."
"Different world."
– electrolytesaregood
When I was a cast member at Disneyland in the early 2000s, we had to abide by the strict, clean-cut appearance guidelines required of all cast members–with different rules applying to each respective gender.
Men, for example, were not allowed to wear jewelry or have visible tattoos. We also had to maintain the length of our hair to not exceed past a certain length, and sporting facial hair was a major no-no.
Now, the "Disney Look" has changed, allowing all cast members to reflect their personalities through “gender-inclusive hairstyles, jewelry, nail styles and costume choices; and allowing appropriate visible tattoos," according to the Disney Parks Blog.
To the Mouse, I tip my hat for these awesome changes.
Life seems endless from the perspective of a 16-year-old. Heck, at that age even high school itself seems like it'll never end. But adulthood surely does come, and not long after those years.
And with that adulthood comes a much clearer-eyed assessment of those time warped adolescent years.
The 20/20 hindsight does bring some anguish with it, though. Time spent incorrectly, wastefully, or problematically during those years adopts a sharper focus and greater significance.
In response to a post, some Redditors reveled in their angst, shared what they learned from those rotten feelings and regrets.
GetHyper66 asked, "What is one thing you regret about your teenage years?"
An Investment
"I didn't take care of my teeth very well. I had to pay a stupid amount of money to get them fixed." -- ZerenTheUnskilled
"Treat your teeth like they're worth a fortune or you'll end up paying a fortune." -- -digitalbath
"Everytime I see one of these posts I see someone saying the teeth thing. I literally saw it so much that I floss now lmao. Thank u internet" -- sosumo11
Passing By
"Not involving myself more. I never went on school trips, I didn't go to prom, I skipped anything extra and a lot of what was mandatory. It carried into my adult life and it seems obvious to say, but I guess I'd be a different person now if I had been then." -- swallowyoursadness
"I see this thread of people wishing they didn't miss out but say all they did is the same now and they are still missing out."
"Get out of your comfort zone. Its nice there but life isn't comfortable. Don't get me wrong, social anxiety fucks me up too, but when you realize people aren't even paying attention to you it'll subside." -- Bustertimes
It Will Not Just Happen
"I spent so much time 'waiting for something to happen.' "
"Like sitting on some steps outside of a house waiting for something to happen. Hanging out with people I did not really like waiting for something to happen."
"I feel like so much time was wasted waiting for something to happen, instead of doing something or 'making things happen.' "
Feeling On Stage
"The amount of time I spent caring about what others thought of me." -- ND_5913
"I am 46 and am just now learning that. Just had a relative curse me out and drop me from social media because of my BLM support. My number of f***s to give about people like that is at an all time low right now. I wish I had arrived there much sooner." -- Wilhelm_Amenbreak
A Heart Held In
"That I never confessed my feelings for this girl until our late twenties." -- LezWolfVet
"Exact same story here man! We both thought the other was out of our league for 10 damn years until one of us finally spoke up, and now she is moving in with me this week!" -- HaCo111
An Acknowledge Immature Response
"Man, my regret is just being so mean. It was not all the time though, it was just targeted to some people and only when I was feeling overwhelmed with social things."
"Instead of telling them that I wanted some alone time or something like that that is adult-sounding, I just yelled hurtful insults at them to make them go away."
"I know I made one girl cry. I felt bad immediately which just fueled my confused social emotions and made it harder for me to reconcile things with her later. I feel like I left a wake of destruction in my past."
-- SharonRobles
Cling to the things You Can't Help but Do
"Giving up something I loved - writing - so I could dedicate more time to studies. While I did manage to achieve excellent grades, I really wish it didn't come at the expense of putting a stop to writing and creating fictional worlds."
"I thought I'd always stay 'passionate' about writing, and that I could jump right back into it once I was done with school... but I realized too late that it isn't that easy. Because I hadn't been writing for so long, it just isn't the same anymore."
"No matter how much I try, that spark and magic just isn't there anymore. It's just sad to think about what I lost."
A Sudden Rerouting
"Getting pregnant. Bf was Catholic and couldn't break the birth control rule ... Apparently the premarital sex rule was ok to break. I should've insisted. But you know, young, dumb, 'won't happen to me' and all of that...." -- grammy1972
"You still together?" -- TobyGoRawr
"Nope. Got married, split 3 years later. That little surprise is now 30, with 2 of his own." -- grammy1972
Could Have Been Worse
"The day I turned 18 I was able to gamble at the local casinos. I won a jackpot playing poker and then lost $18000 (almost all of it) within 6 months. Pretty sure the only thing I actually bought was an Xbox One. Haven't gambled for 6 years. Still cringe when I think about it." -- 0000000f
"You got a really important lesson taught for essentially $0!" -- Enk1ndle
"Good on you, i have Friends and relatives that have put themselves in huge debts from gambling. My friend is getting back on track. My relative is rock bottom and there seems to be no way back for him. Also (Also alcohol and drug addict)."
"Gambling is one hell of a drug. Glad you made it." -- Wulterman
A Reactionary Tendency
"Most decisions were made from fear; I dated an a**hole because I was afraid no one else would like me, I let my 'friends' tease me because I was scared of not fitting in, I didn't audition for certain groups because I was scared of not getting in, etc."
"Sometimes I wish I could take a time machine back and slap myself in the face and yell, 'F***ING TRY ANYWAY.' Oh well." -- ayzayzar
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Activist's Powerful Thread About What It Means To Grow Up As A Queer Kid Is Spot On
People struggling with their sexual identity while growing up can feel isolated, confused, and depressed.
Oftentimes, adolescent queers realizing they are a part of a marginalized group in a heteronormative society do not know who to turn to.
Fortunately, an LGBTQ activist and writer from Australia, Alexander Leon, was able to perfectly convey the feeling of emptiness that members of the queer community experienced before coming out.
Leon's inspiring Twitter thread about the perceptions of a closeted LGBTQ youth resonated with so many people.
He started by explaining that queer people growing up sacrifice a bit of their authentic selves for protection and about the damaging toll it has on their adulthood.
Queer people don't grow up as ourselves, we grow up playing a version of ourselves that sacrifices authenticity to… https://t.co/vTfrQGFEGQ— Alexander Leon (@Alexander Leon) 1578384660
While the road to self discovery can be emotionally challenging, Leon called the arduous task "a gift" that some cisgender and heterosexual people do not get to experience.
It's massive and existential and difficult. But I'm convinced that being confronted with the need for profound self… https://t.co/tTHsV2T8Mn— Alexander Leon (@Alexander Leon) 1578385259
He finished the poignant post by encouraging people to be patient and to "be kind to yourself" but most of all to embrace themselves and "be proud!"
All of this is to say - be kind to yourself. Discovering who you really are is an enormous task it doesn't happen o… https://t.co/OZr1BVA6m3— Alexander Leon (@Alexander Leon) 1578385481
His uplifting message resonated with thousands of people with his initial tweet receiving 43,000 retweets and 157,000 likes in less than a day.
Many members of the LGBT+ community shared their own unique stories and expressed their emotional epiphanies after reading Leon's stunning analysis.
@alexand_erleon @callumjpf This stopped me in my tracks, the words you used really hit home for me and a lot of peo… https://t.co/ttN4Ms6PyX— Dylan 😶 (@Dylan 😶) 1578385891
@alexand_erleon I relate to this so hard my damn soul left my body— Lee 🏳️🌈✨🌿⚔️ (@Lee 🏳️🌈✨🌿⚔️) 1578395966
thinking a lot about this. have written lots on this topic and will keep doing so. had a great convo with my mom to… https://t.co/CboxgfMrv7— David Oliver (@David Oliver) 1578447725
@alexand_erleon I think all people create a false self, and need to be on this path of learning and unlearning. B… https://t.co/f7e12NUZ1U— Lura Groen (@Lura Groen) 1578403493
@alexand_erleon How have I never realized this? Thank you so much for saying it! I've wondered so many times, espec… https://t.co/0t41u69S2O— Dylan Skie (@Dylan Skie) 1578417847
Truth. Ever since I came out as non binary and pan, I’ve been trying to kill every aspect of the “old me” that I cr… https://t.co/DwYWsGgsZH— Rachel Marie (She/Her) 🏳️⚧️♓🇺🇦 (@Rachel Marie (She/Her) 🏳️⚧️♓🇺🇦) 1578494005
@alexand_erleon I think all people create a false self, and need to be on this path of learning and unlearning. B… https://t.co/f7e12NUZ1U— Lura Groen (@Lura Groen) 1578403493
Leon – who works at the LGBTQ rights organization Kaleidoscope Trust – was overwhelmed by all of the responses after his post went viral.
He expressed his gratitude by sharing his lifelong ambition in helping the community.
All I've ever wanted to do in any of my work is for queer people (& particularly QPOC) to feel seen, heard & unders… https://t.co/mFxP3N7kYL— Alexander Leon (@Alexander Leon) 1578476326
After discovering the enormity of his reach on social media, he asked people to help families affected by the Australian bushfires by making donations.
He added this link to the Red Cross.
This has blown up unexpectedly and I'm very humbled ❤️ If this meant something to you & you are able I'd really app… https://t.co/mQSGlou2rd— Alexander Leon (@Alexander Leon) 1578403265
Truer words have never been articulated so perfectly.
Thank you for your advocacy and powerful words, Alexander.
The book Growing Up Queer is available here.
"LGBTQ kids reveal what it's like to be young and queer today."