Red Devil Pride Never Dies
Posted by Isabel on November 1st, 2007. Filed under: Back in the Day, They're just my family.Graduation day is typically the last time you ever set foot in your high school. You walk out the front door with your yearbook, your backpack and the contents of your locker with the hopes of never returning.
Statistics say that most of us won’t ever return to our high school. Statistics also show that we won’t see the majority of our classmates ever again.
This Friday afternoon I’ll be eating lunch at my old high school with one of my old teachers. It’s going to be weird to walk through my high school with my husband and son.
To be fair, the teacher we’re having lunch with is my father, but it’s still going to be über weird to be in his classroom as a grown adult.
Usually when we go out to visit my family we meet my dad for lunch at a restaurant near the high school. Yesterday my dad e-mailed me to tell me that he’s too busy this Friday to actually leave for lunch. So we’ll be picking up a pizza and eating with him in his classroom between classes.
It’s always so surreal to walk into the school I spent so much time trying to get away from. Not only does seeing the changes to the school remind me that I’m getting old, seeing my dad with his students reminds me that he’s getting older also. And dude, high school kids seem to get younger every year. What is that about?
Okay I’ll admit it, I’m excited for this excuse to walk my old halls again. And this time instead of trying avoid eye contact with anyone, for fear that someone might actually speak to me, I’ll laugh with my family and not worry that about the fact that I’m probably wearing the wrong outfit. Or, like my mom always said, worry that my hair is parted on the wrong side.
Yep, that’s me as a junior in high school. (And wearing a shirt borrowed from my friend Jamie.)
So tell me, have any of you been back to visit your high school? And if so, please tell me all about it!
November 1st, 2007 at 8:12 am
YUP. I went back to judge a speech/debate tournament for my niece’s high school.
Since I was drama club president, my old teacher recognized me and said, “You look so…AMAZING”.
I should probably interject that when I was in high school I weighed 220 lbs, had permed orange hair complete with “The claw” and my nickname was Beeker.
Sigh.
November 1st, 2007 at 11:00 am
I think I went back for homecoming when I was in college, but not as an adult. Mainly because my parents don’t live there any more, and my favorite teacher (Graphics!!) moved to a different school. It’s always that weird time-warp thing though…it’s good and bad at the same time. Have fun!!
November 1st, 2007 at 11:38 am
I have been back to my high school once to go in a pick up my medical records from the office. But it was a quick in and out visit. Since I have a little brother who is 7 and will eventually be at the high school, I imagine I will be there quite a bit in the future. I also imagine I will see people I knew in high school with their kids when I am there with my little brother. That part is a little odd.
November 1st, 2007 at 12:26 pm
Of course I still see people from my high school…. I’m best friends with one of them, good friends with another.
I did return to the high school a couple times. The last time is about 10 years ago. I had my three kids with me and stopped in, walked through the halls, chatted with a couple of the teachers. It was interesting to smell that smell again. That was the most profound… the smell of the gym.
November 1st, 2007 at 1:01 pm
My little sisters go to my old high school so when I’m in town sometimes I’ll go pick them up. Or watch a game. Its pretty weird. And yes, they are getting younger. And shorter.
November 1st, 2007 at 1:16 pm
I am going to my high school reunion (not held at the school, but since its w/the people figure it counts as “going back) on Saturday. So I’ll let you know. I am still friends w/4-5 girls from highschool (though 4 of them I went to grade school with so we’ve been friends forever)
I am wondering if people will still act like they did in HS & the same cliques will hang out?
November 1st, 2007 at 1:16 pm
I go back every year. My husband and I went to the same high school (we were not high school sweethearts, but it’s too complicated to explain) and each winter he plays in an alumni basketball tournament.
It’s really interesting to see how people change. Each year the most recently graduated team seems so, so young. The guys in our age group just get balder and paunchier. My husband’s team had to get new jerseys last year because they had all (with the exception of Bjorn and one other guy) gotten too fat to fit into the ones they started out wearing.
November 1st, 2007 at 1:17 pm
I went back once or twice when I was in college, but it wasn’t that strange since my brother was still going there. I think I’d like to go back now though. I’m feeling sentimental. What freaks me out is that when we move back to my hometown I could potentially be looking for a job at one of my old schools. My former teachers could end up colleagues. Would it be strange to keep calling them Mr. and Mrs.?
November 1st, 2007 at 1:46 pm
Oh my gosh, I have that exact same picture (I’m not kidding– I have the same length hair in the same style and am wearing the same color shirt) Weird!
I have only been back to my high school twice (for each of my siblings’ graduation ceremonies), but it felt really small and definitely not as imposing as when I went there.
November 1st, 2007 at 1:48 pm
U used to have black hair? wow. I didn’t know that. that’s such a cute smile with straight teeth! why did u need braces again?
Yeh I actually went back 2 weeks ago. Most teachers I had have moved away to other schools or retired. The ones I knew were really lovely and wanted to know what I was up to etc.
My school principle was/is a bitch…and well nothing much has changed apparantly.
I’m actually very good friends with my science teacher who took me frm grade 7-10 science. He came to my wedding and I have lunch/dinner with him very often. It’s kinda weird to be friends with someone u admired and looked up to as a child…i can never see myself intellectual equal to him and often forget and call him ’sir’ instead of just ‘chris’.
November 1st, 2007 at 2:08 pm
Rockin’ denim shirt!
I haven’t been back to my high school at all! Even driving by it feels weird. My 10 year reunion is coming up… jury’s still out on whether I’ll be into attending.
November 1st, 2007 at 2:52 pm
I’ve driven by my old school, and I saw that they painted a hideous mural since I’ve been gone. I was like WTF is that? Glad I don’t have to look at it every day!
November 1st, 2007 at 4:25 pm
I think I am trying to block out my high school years. I remember high school as the place where everyone was cooler and prettier and…
Well, I haven’t been back. Just isn’t something I’m ready to do. Maybe for my 20 yr. (I’ve got a few years to think about it)
OH, and I can relate to your clothes borrowing…my senior pictures were all taken in my BFF’s clothes!
November 1st, 2007 at 4:29 pm
I’ve been back to my high school a few times. Have you ever seen the movie 10 things I hate about you. That was filmed at my school. Stadium High School in Tacoma, it was way more ghetto than the movie showed.
November 1st, 2007 at 5:03 pm
I went to college in my hometown, and for one of my writing classes I had to tutor a high school student once a week for the entire semester — at my old high school, of course. It was weird being back there; some things had changed, but a lot had stayed the same. I still had to fight through a crowd of people in the same congested hallway intersection that was always a problem when I was there, but I didn’t have to fight the same self-consciousness issues anymore. So, weird to be back, but not as bad as it was to be there in high school. And the student I got to tutor was pretty awesome, which definitely helped the situation. We even totally broke the rules and met at starbucks instead of the school library a few times. Everybody knows better writing happens when you have coffee, right?
November 1st, 2007 at 5:48 pm
I haven’t been back because I moved away nearly RIGHT after graduation. I’d love to go back! I heard they added a whole new wing and that it’s different now.
Aww, now I’m having rose colored memories.
Here’s a wikipedia page about my high school – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J.J._Pearce_High_School
November 1st, 2007 at 6:45 pm
I’m always amazed at how tiny the lockers seem. I have been back, but I don’t remember why. I think. Or am I imagining it? Plus, they built a new high school after I left so now our high school is the upper middle school or something weird like that.
November 1st, 2007 at 7:16 pm
OMG you’re so damn cute!
And no, come to think of it, I don’t think I’ve been back at all… except for my sis’s graduation. Hmmmm… I must remedy this.
November 1st, 2007 at 9:17 pm
You’re totally cute in that picture! I have been back for a 10 year weekend reunion. It started out as adults with adult drinking and socializing. But by Sunday night, it had kind of de-evolved back to senior year.
No slam on senior year or anything, but when you are married with a kid, you should know better than to make out with the captain of the football team. Even if you were head cheerleader. I mean, duh.
November 1st, 2007 at 9:19 pm
I haven’t been back in years, but my grandparents live right behind the school so I pass it every time I visit them.
I am still friends with three of my best friends from high school though! That’s got to count for something, right?
November 1st, 2007 at 9:23 pm
Oh hell to the no! Just to clarify: Not me making out with the football guy. Just two people who went at it over dinner and woke up the next morning to find themselves living another post high school day. He as a bald banker and a trial separation for her.
Isabel: Thanks for the clarification. I pictured hott Anne and some hott footballer kissing under the bleachers. But um, sounds like that wasn’t the case at all!
November 2nd, 2007 at 2:44 am
For me, I actually student taught at my old HS while I getting my teaching certificate. That was EXTREMELY weird because the teachers I was working with were the same ones I had as a freshman and senior in HS. Eating where the teachers ate was also weird. I felt like a little high schooler all over again. I could not bring myself to feel like their peer instead of their student.
November 2nd, 2007 at 2:45 am
Duuude, is that shirt denim? Cause that’s awesome….I think I had 3 of them myself.
November 2nd, 2007 at 5:25 am
i went back to my high school when i went to my husband’s 20 year reunion.
conclusion? the place was just as depressing as it was 20 years ago.
November 2nd, 2007 at 7:10 pm
I have been back to visit my High School! I few times actually. I’ve been to a few dance performances, and I just took my brother to orientation in August which was SO awesome. It’s neat to go back, but to not be a student, haha!
I agree, those High School kids are so much younger than I remember!!!
November 2nd, 2007 at 9:15 pm
Let me just start off by saying that my high school were the Red Devils!
I haven’t been back on campus since I graduated. I have driven by many many times, but have not been back. I went to my 10-year reunion this year though and got to catch up with alot of people. Considering that I graduated with about 600 people, I will definitely not see most of them again.
November 2nd, 2007 at 10:17 pm
Sadly, I haven’t been back to my high school for many, many years. But would love! Maybe on my next vacation trip ‘home’.
How was lunch?
November 4th, 2007 at 6:42 pm
I’ve been back to my old school once or twice, and it was very surreal. After you go back, you look at things through different lenses and things just don’t seem the same as you remember them.
November 5th, 2007 at 4:22 pm
I visted a few times when I was in college. . .now I usually just point and laugh or hiss at my old high school while I drive by. Not that I had a bad experience there by any means, they just won’t be seeing any $$ from me. . .ever. Oddly enough if you live in the Seattle/Burien/ have ever flown in or out of Sea-Tac you have probably seen my high school. From the air or 509 it looks like a prison, only its not really a prison, its a 1960’s built Catholic high school that just looks like a windowless bunker.
It even comes complete with a running track surrounded by razor wire. . .haha. Got to love it
November 5th, 2007 at 5:38 pm
[...] And while having lunch at your old high school is always exciting, it’s still very laid back and slow. [...]
December 10th, 2007 at 6:41 pm
[...] You may recall that we had lunch at my old high school last month. While we were all sitting there enjoying our Subway (what, did you think I’d actually eat school lunch on purpose?) I looked our my dad’s classroom window to see a student sitting on the steps, eating his lunch alone. This particular student was a little heavy, ate with his head hanging low, and appeared to be trying to vanish into the scenery. [...]
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