Best and Worst Memories of High School

[Weedygarden]

I loved going to school. While I was never super popular, I had lots of friends and I still have contact with many people from my school days. I had a message from a classmate today, whom I haven't seen since 5th grade when his family moved. Several school mates and I PM from time to time and I haven't seen some of them since I graduated. School was an escape for me from the stuff at home. I have no memory of being bullied, but I was pranked by one friend in particular. He is still a friend who sends me PM's periodically. There were 52 in my class, and 48 of us graduated. While a few people have died, we still stay in touch with each other.

I loved art class, typing, bookkeeping, world history and English class which involved reading some great literature, writing term papers of topics of our choosing. I appreciated learning how to write the papers and researching the topics. One of my term papers was "The Effects of Marijuana on Human Beings." I wish I had taken Shop, but it was a class for males.

Worst memories for me would be walking to and from school on the days when I didn't get a ride, in the winter. Girls were required to wear dresses to school. I know that has changed. It's not fun to walk to school in the winter when it is -20 degrees with little covering of your legs.

What are your memories of high school, good and bad?

 

[JustMe]

Memories from high school???


Let's just say that I should have read your term paper......

 

[Caribou]

Miss Smith was trying to teach us about stocks and bonds. She was using the Smith Seaweed corp. as her dummy corporation. I wasn't particularly interested in that part of the course. I decided that if she wanted a Smith seaweed Corp that we would give her one. I got 10 gunnysacks and took them to a friend of mine. His dad was the watchman at a cannery so he stole his dad's keys and we got into the office and used the stencil machine to mark the bags Smith Seaweed Corp.

Another friend had an open skiff so the three of us got together at low tide and filled up all ten sacks with popweed. A fourth friend lived across the street from the school so we stashed the seaweed under his house for a couple days.

The Vice Principals door was always left open, till after that day. We went through the unlocked door, now seven of us, dragging these sacks of seaweed. We got to her classroom door. I had been working for a locksmith so I picked the lock.

We moved her chair, stacked the seaweed, took a picture, and left an invoice on her desk. I locked the door on the way out. The janitor removed the seaweed the next morning. There were sand fleas jumping around the class for most of the first hour.

We gave her a framed copy of the photo at the 20 year reunion. "So that's who did that."

 

[Bacpacker]

I enjoyed HS for the most part. I took auto mechanic 2' years and general shop my freshman year. Learned quite a bit in both. Looking back i wish I had taken 1 year each of mechanic's, machine shop, and electronics. Loved history and biology, the rest of it...well I was there.
In middle school my math teacher, who also played the piano at church, told my mom I should just take general math, basic science, etc in HS. Mainly because I was lazy and didn't put forth much effort to make good grades. I should have taken algebra and all the advanced math classes offered. I did take chemistry, and biology. My own fault but it did slow me down going on the school later.
Played basket ball and baseball some, but got into racing dirt bikes and stopped those. My senior year I worked from 6 till 8, went to school for one class, then back to work till 6. I mostly missed out on everything. I do regret that.
The bad, not a lot other than being the tallest guy is school somebof the guys figured if they whipped me in a fight no one would mess with them. Luckily I never lost one. And that stopped after sophomore year. Wasn't a lot of fun. But all in all, I'd do somethings different. But I had a good time for the most part

 

[The Lazy L]

High School? Junior and Senior years I was working 6 hour days, 6 days a week. As soon as the school day was over I would drive home, change, eat and get to work. No time for a school social life. Saturdays mornings sleep in before washing and detailing my car. I was a Stockboy for a drug store.

Well…there was that new waitress at the drug store my senior year. I would drive her to her home after work. Take her and her sisters to church on Sundays. Ended up marrying her

 

[TeeJ]

Worst: Probably either the day I accidentally wore my mom's Jordache jeans early in 9th grade after they got mixed in with my wash or the day I was hauled off in handcuffs because one of my idiot friends released a significant amount of tear gas in the band room (it's a long story).

Best: The day I met my wife. 11 PM in a Pizza Hutt after our marching band performance at the HS football game. She was embarrassed at her awful hat hair, I thought she was the loveliest girl I'd even seen. We were friends for years until I got the guts to ask her out well after graduation. Celebrated our 30th last week

Most disappointing: The day I started my job at the YMCA as a "valet" and found I wasn't going to be parking Porsches and Lambos (not that that most of the cars in town were anything like that), but that I would be mopping racquetball courts and scrubbing toilets. Oh yea, and that my mom had just been hired to run the place, so she'd be my boss! Best job for me I ever had, learned to work hard and not turn my nose up at anything - even if it was floating in the whirpool....

 

[zoomzoom]

Like others, I worked all 4 years of my high school days. More memories from working at the time than high school itself.

Worst day of high school had to be on a bus ride coming home where we got in an accident. While on a main road doing about 50MPH and going down a hill (towards a major intersection), our bus went to stop behind 3 other bus's in line where the front bus was letting off students. The brakes on our bus failed and we collided with the bus in front of us (who then did the chain reaction into the next two bus's). When it was over, nearly 100 kids went to the hospital. The other 100 of us were banged up and bruised but didn't go to the hospital.

 

[rice paddy daddy]

I never “fit in” in high school.
I barely graduated, today I’d probably be labeled with a learning disorder, but that thinking wasn’t around in the 1960’s.
I went to one reunion, the 20th, and the same cliques were still there. I have no interest in going back. I have two Facebook friends from my class, the rest I have no idea where they are.

I found I’ve never really fit in, except with other veterans.
Especially those I served in combat with. That is a bond unlike any other, we are Brothers. Our annual reunions I can not wait to attend, I’m as excited as a kid at Christmas.

 

[backlash]

I never like school. I never went to the same school for an entire year. We moved a lot. I did go to the same school several years but never all year in one grade.
My worst memory is easy.
Six of my friends and I went to a football game one Friday night.
They dropped me off at home. About 15 minutes later a train hit their car and killed all 6.
Two sets of brothers, and two of their cousins.
The next Monday there was an announcement at school that they had been killed and everyone needed to be careful driving. No grief counselors, no nothing.
It was difficult to be a pallbearer for 3 friends when you're that young.
As you might have guessed it still bothers me after 52 years.
I can't think of a good memory.

 

[TeeJ]

I never like school. I never went to the same school for an entire year. We moved a lot. I did go to the same school several years but never all year in one grade.
My worst memory is easy.
Six of my friends and I went to a football game one Friday night.
They dropped me off at home. About 15 minutes later a train hit their car and killed all 6.
Two sets of brothers, and two of their cousins.
The next Monday there was an announcement at school that they had been killed and everyone needed to be careful driving. No grief counselors, no nothing.
It was difficult to be a pallbearer for 3 friends when you're that young.
As you might have guessed it still bothers me after 52 years.
I can't think of a good memory.

@backlash I can't imagine enduring that much trauma that young. My condolences.

 

[Just Cliff]

I have an interesting story, maybe just for me but, I will think about posting it.

 

[Peanut]

My high school years were disjointed. I attended school with the same kids in a little town for 12 years (80 kids). But I never socialized with any of them out side of school. There was another school that was closer to my home. All my friends and extended family went there. I dated girls from there, went to ball games, even played little league there as a kid, it was my social life. Then the 3rd… by the ninth grade I played music every weekend (bluegrass and gospel). Most of my musician friends were adults, 25 and older. So it might be said I attended 3 schools at the same time. One was academic, one social and the other extra curricular.

The most memorable event at my school was meningitis, almost killed me. I had rented 20 acres and planted a corn crop as part of an Ag class program. That fall, 10th grade, I needed to harvest my corn. I’d felt bad for a couple days. I was driving to school one morning and realized I needed to go to the hospital. So instead I drove to a man’s house that had a combine and contracted him to harvest my corn… then drove myself to the hospital. I didn’t make it, passed out waiting at a red light at the edge of town. I was a sick puppy, 2 weeks in the hospital. (Men in my family weren’t allowed to be sick. If I couldn’t work I’d better be in the hospital or missing a limb, then I’d get a pass for that day only.)

My last 2 years of school I was in another Ag program. I left school at noon for my job at a cotton gin/large farm. So the high school I attended was such a small part of my life nothing really stands out, a few odds and ends.

Funny the things one does remember… I remember making the deal to have my corn harvested (above). I shook hands with the man and walked to my car. I remember each step I took, the dew on the grass, even how the sun felt, mostly I remember the pain. I guess the fluid around my brain had swollen from the meningitis. The impact of each step felt like lighting bolts going off in my head, the most pain I’ve felt before or since. I remember that morning in detail until I passed out at the red light. Of course I remember almost nothing about the next 10 days. I don’t even remember being in the ICU the first week.

The man who harvested my corn… I stopped and visited with him this past fall. He remembered that day long ago and brought it up. That’s when I learned he’d followed me to town that morning out of concern, I must have looked very ill. He called the ambulance and took care of my car. Before he left home he had his wife call my parents at work. A long time in coming but I thanked him for his help.

 

[LadyLocust]

I hardly remember HS - I went. I survived. Like many here, I worked. There were only 17 (I think) in my graduating class. That was a large class, most were 10-15 per grade.

 

[Neb]

Best
Calculus, Chemistry Lab assistant, Physics and was a thespian involved in all plays and productions.

Worst
Getting beat up multiple times.

Ben

 

[Alaskajohn]

I graduated from high school at the tail end of the 1970's, a truly great decade to be a kid. As time has passed, I can really say I have no bad memories. Zero. The only exception to this is that we moved from the midwest to Hawaii in the fall of my senior year, so my senior year was in a new state and school, and I joined the school about 2 months into my senior school year. When someone asks me today where I graduated from high school I might mistakenly say the wrong school. But this is okay since I met my wife of some 38 years (and going), so the moved worked out well.

My memories of that time are all positive from school, sports, family and friend activities. Full of fun, time outdoors enjoying life with schoolmates and family. I actually learned things in high school. The move to Hawaii was culturally enriching as well. The 70's were great. I got to skip school on occasion to go see some great legendary bands, got in my share of non-serious trouble of no real consequence, learned to play guitar, etc. The move in my senior year did prevent me from playing football my senior year removing me from serious football scholarship offers, but I would not have met the love of my life if I didn't move or accepted scholarship offers from the smaller universities, so everything worked out. I feel blessed and lucky for the experience.

 

[Amish Heart]

I graduated early, after 10th grade by taking a proficiency exam. I really didn't like High School, it was just something I had to go to. I worked after school all of my teen years. A & W Rootbeer carhop. Then office work for a man who owned his own tax company. He was a great guy to work for, did typing, tax collating, and even cleaned his house. Good pay, too. Started full time work after graduating at 16, went to night school at the community college. Took classes in social work, and decided that wasn't for me at all.

 

[sonya123]

I didn't like most of high school. I went to high school in Germany , totally different school system. Teachers were still allowed to smack us if we misbehaved and seemed to enjoy giving bad grades. The other kids weren't the problem, I had friends, it was the teachers. One math teacher particularly hated me and gave me an F in grade 10 just because I wrote the final with pencil instead of pen. He was of the opinion that if you wrote with pencil , you could erase later and fix your answers and then accuse him of giving you the wrong grade. Then he kicked me out of class because I was wearing a U.S. military jacket ( from my ex who was in the Army over there). The English and French teacher seemed to hate everyone and gave so much homework you couldn't possibly finish and enjoyed giving bad grades.
The art teacher was a nutcase and eventually joined the Hare Krishnas ( not kidding). The other English and sometimes Geography teacher gave me a bad grade because he owed my dad money for building supplies and work on his house , and didn't pay it, so my dad took him to court and got his money. There is more but that's the worst of it.
I went there until grade 12 then got married and moved to the U.S> and finished high school there. Much easier and much nicer teachers.

Positive things: I did learn things like calculus, several languages, higher level science there, so the first couple of years of college were really easy to me. Plus we went on a week long school trip every year which was fun.

Oh wait, you'll like this one , there was no drinking age in Germany at the time, not sure about now. We had a bar with pool tables across the street from the high school and went there to shoot pool and drink beer on our breaks. Nobody thought that was weird either.

 

[joel]

I married my best memories & my worst were few, I was a big fellow & I chopped wood, milked cows.
Few people messed with me, even tho I was not a cool kid.

 

[joel]

My high school years were disjointed. I attended school with the same kids in a little town for 12 years (80 kids). But I never socialized with any of them out side of school. There was another school that was closer to my home. All my friends and extended family went there. I dated girls from there, went to ball games, even played little league there as a kid, it was my social life. Then the 3rd… by the ninth grade I played music every weekend (bluegrass and gospel). Most of my musician friends were adults, 25 and older. So it might be said I attended 3 schools at the same time. One was academic, one social and the other extra curricular.

The most memorable event at my school was meningitis, almost killed me. I had rented 20 acres and planted a corn crop as part of an Ag class program. That fall, 10th grade, I needed to harvest my corn. I’d felt bad for a couple days. I was driving to school one morning and realized I needed to go to the hospital. So instead I drove to a man’s house that had a combine and contracted him to harvest my corn… then drove myself to the hospital. I didn’t make it, passed out waiting at a red light at the edge of town. I was a sick puppy, 2 weeks in the hospital. (Men in my family weren’t allowed to be sick. If I couldn’t work I’d better be in the hospital or missing a limb, then I’d get a pass for that day only.)

My last 2 years of school I was in another Ag program. I left school at noon for my job at a cotton gin/large farm. So the high school I attended was such a small part of my life nothing really stands out, a few odds and ends.

Funny the things one does remember… I remember making the deal to have my corn harvested (above). I shook hands with the man and walked to my car. I remember each step I took, the dew on the grass, even how the sun felt, mostly I remember the pain. I guess the fluid around my brain had swollen from the meningitis. The impact of each step felt like lighting bolts going off in my head, the most pain I’ve felt before or since. I remember that morning in detail until I passed out at the red light. Of course I remember almost nothing about the next 10 days. I don’t even remember being in the ICU the first week.

The man who harvested my corn… I stopped and visited with him this past fall. He remembered that day long ago and brought it up. That’s when I learned he’d followed me to town that morning out of concern, I must have looked very ill. He called the ambulance and took care of my car. Before he left home he had his wife call my parents at work. A long time in coming but I thanked him for his help.

Peanut, I have lived 61 & heard a lot of crap, my BS meter is working just fine.
I believe every word, that sounds like something you would do. Bet you have a lot of them stories, we have not heard & a few you will never repeat.

 

[Supervisor42]

My best one was blowing up the chemistry lab in high school.
We learned a lot.

 

[Wingnut]

Worst: Being introverted after my pop abandoned the family, and not really fitting in with the rich kids around me, since my military family was now dirt poor.

Best: Meeting other social outcasts and skateboarding with 'em, particularly after school on the huge vertical ramps we built in my back yard.

 

[billyjack]

Not high school, but I still remember:

On what was probably my best day of elementary school, nothing happened.

Not long before that, I had been attacked by a barn cat and was scheduled to get rabies vaccinations that day.

At the time, they were given with really big needles in the abdomen around the belly button. Some doctors, however, including mine, seemed to think that they were supposed to go through the belly button. The doctor told me that it would be extremely painful, much worse than accidentally falling on red hot iron that had just been cut with a cutting torch in the second or third grade (I didn't even go to the doctor for that, but it took about thirty years for the scar to fade to where it wasn't noticeable). And remember that rabies vaccinations are a series of shots, not just one shot.

So on the big day, my parents were supposed to pick me up from school at noon and take me to the doctor's office 40 miles away for the first vaccination. I dreaded it all morning. Then they didn't pick me up at noon! So all afternoon, I kept waiting for them to come get me to take me in for the vaccination. They didn't show up. All the way home on the school bus (about an hour long ride) , I was wondering what happened.

When I got home, I didn't really want to remind them of the vaccinations, but I ended up asking anyway. It turned out that the report from the state laboratory that tested the cat's brain for rabies came back negative. The cat didn't have rabies and so I didn't have to get the vaccinations.

That turned out to be a really great day.

I did learn my lesson, though. From then on whenever I got bitten by anything, I didn't tell them.

 

[TeeJ]

Not high school, but I still remember:

On what was probably my best day of elementary school, nothing happened.

Not long before that, I had been attacked by a barn cat and was scheduled to get rabies vaccinations that day.

At the time, they were given with really big needles in the abdomen around the belly button. Some doctors, however, including mine, seemed to think that they were supposed to go through the belly button. The doctor told me that it would be extremely painful, much worse than accidentally falling on red hot iron that had just been cut with a cutting torch in the second or third grade (I didn't even go to the doctor for that, but it took about thirty years for the scar to fade to where it wasn't noticeable). And remember that rabies vaccinations are a series of shots, not just one shot.

So on the big day, my parents were supposed to pick me up from school at noon and take me to the doctor's office 40 miles away for the first vaccination. I dreaded it all morning. Then they didn't pick me up at noon! So all afternoon, I kept waiting for them to come get me to take me in for the vaccination. They didn't show up. All the way home on the school bus (about an hour long ride) , I was wondering what happened.

When I got home, I didn't really want to remind them of the vaccinations, but I ended up asking anyway. It turned out that the report from the state laboratory that tested the cat's brain for rabies came back negative. The cat didn't have rabies and so I didn't have to get the vaccinations.

That turned out to be a really great day.

I did learn my lesson, though. From then on whenever I got bitten by anything, I didn't tell them.

I had a similar experience in Jr High. Got bit by a squirrel rescuing it from a dog. Darn thing got away, so I had to get the shots. Back then it was 14 shots in the stomach with a needle that seemed huge and hurt like the dickens. Went in for the 14th shot and the doctor showed us his fancy new shot gun which used a tiny needle and barely even hurt. If I had gotten bitten two weeks later I could have avoided all those painful shots!

 

[billyjack]

I had a similar experience in Jr High. Got bit by a squirrel rescuing it from a dog. Darn thing got away, so I had to get the shots. Back then it was 14 shots in the stomach with a needle that seemed huge and hurt like the dickens. Went in for the 14th shot and the doctor showed us his fancy new shot gun which used a tiny needle and barely even hurt. If I had gotten bitten two weeks later I could have avoided all those painful shots!

Imagine being a veterinarian back then.

I've been told that they had to have the vaccinations before they could begin vet school. I don't know if they still do that, but it make sense to make sure that they can handle the vaccinations without a serious allergic reaction. In any case, the vaccinations today are reportedly far less painful.

And then, of course, whenever they are exposed to rabies, they get vaccinated again. I assume there is some short time when they might not have to get another vaccination, but veterinarians are often vaccinated for rabies multiple times in their careers.

One vet in my area described a cow with what he thought had swallowed some barbed wire and it was stuck in his throat. He was reaching down its throat to find the barbed wire when he realized that it was probably rabies, instead. Yep. Yet another set of rabies vaccinations for him in his veterinary career.