For us oldster's- What were you like in high school?

[red]

I just knew you guys would love this one!!!!

Isn't it fun & don't you wish there could be a school just for nerdy/cattle types!!!

Red

 

[aj]

I can't go through my experiences being in the witness protection program and everything.......just kidding.

 

[Telos]

I can't go through my experiences being in the witness protection program and everything.......just kidding.

Ah, come on AJ. Tell us.

 

[garett]

Im still in high school, just a sophomore, finally turn 16 on May 7, been waitin for that a long time. Anyways as far as school my moms a teacher so im expected to do good by her standards, got the old grade card back back for 1st semester, i think im doin well, ranked 8 out of 62, prolly the highest ill ever be...there are a lot of smart sophomores. Well i play sports basketball right now, not a big star but i can play, 4-1 on the season so far and we play the team we lost to again on monday so hopefully get some revenge, then track in the spring, long distance runner, really not good at that but we won a few 4x800 relays. As far as my friends yea the
"cool"  kids know who i am but we dont really talk, friends with some of them though. For the ladies yea friends with them but when u live 20 miles out of town and cant drive..it makes it a little harder. 

 

[frostback]

This is fun Red just what I needed. As some my notice by my Av.  I was a cops daughter, a proud cops daughter,  youngest of 3 girls and by the time I got older was kinda on my own. Good parents but just not that into me. Grew up in town.
              I was friends with all the cliques in my school of about 320 graduating. We were a composite school which bused in kids from about 10 surrounding towns. We had all the cliques, jocks, preppies, druggies,cowboys, rich, popular you name it but I had friends in all. Was never real popular but had friends. Never dated anyone from school or my town.                                 
    Started 4-H with sheep which were kept at a friends house but then got a steer and was hooked from that day on. Cattle just came very natural to me and I loved it. Then another friends family that had reg. Angus let me keep cattle there so I bought more steers and they let me show a heifer.
      Graduated finally, barely, was sick of people telling me what to do so went to work showing cattle for people and said when I made some money would go to collage. Never got there. Still may some day though.
Saved and bought my first two shorthorn cows that are the grand dams of most of my cows today.
Meet my husband working in Colorado on a Ag. exchange visa.

 

[KDSC]

Well when i was a kid i hung out with the rich kids(because my parets were divorced, and my mom ran the local news paper so she kind of was rich :'(, i also hung out with the hicks(which is what i actually was ;D) I always did good in school, B's or higher I did CC, track, and basket ball, small town, only 150 kids in each grade.  In middle school, My 6th grade year i was about 5 foot and 85 lbs ;D in 8th grade i was 5' 11" and 130 lbs,. Middle of high school i was 6' 3" and weighed 180lbs.  I didnt like school( i was wishing i was home working with my animals ;D horses actualy didnt get to show cattle as a kid )  but i still didnt hate school.

 

[justintime]

Now I really came from a small school!  There were 6 in my graduating class and I was the only boy with 5 girls. When we started high school there was 32 in my class but by the time we got to grade 12, only 6 survived( for numerous reasons) Many got married and got jobs, some just decided to quit. My parents always expounded the importance of getting an education and this was drilled into me. I remember one of the boys in my class walking out on his birthday, when he was 15, and I remember him telling me that day, that he would be a millionaire by the time he was 30. I am not sure if he made it by the time he was 30 or not but I remember the day I picked up the newspaper and saw that he was the majority owner of the Edmonton Oilers NHL team. He retired at age 46 after selling his oilfield supply business for 89 Million. He  has made a few more M since in several very successful ventures. Several others who dropped out early have also been very successful in life. It was a time when you could go far with a good work ethic. Today, education is one of the keys to a person't success in life as well as the key to advancement in many jobs.

I don't think I was a nerd during high school, but I was extremely shy. I did not date during high school, yet was voted as the person in my high school that would be the first to marry . I fooled them though as I did not marry until I was " very mature" and many of my former school mates were grand parents. I was popular in school and played many sports( none of them very good though). I do not remember exactly when my fascination with cattle  started but for as long as I can remember, I have enjoyed working with them. I often think that I have been blessed with a gift of being able to do exactly what I wanted to do despite this road through life being very rocky at many times. For some reason, the only thing I ever remember wanting to do was raise cattle.
I was bored in school and really never did any homework. From grade 3 to grade 11, I never had to write any final exams, so it was a real shock to my system to have to write grade 12 finals. I had no idea of how to study or how to write a final exam. Some how I made it through and managed to get accepted into University. Since I had started school at age 5, I was in University at age 16. It was quite a "life lesson" to move 250 miles from home to a university setting of over 10,000 students after coming from a grade 12 class of 6. I spent 5 years in college and started on a Master's in Animal Science and decided that the only thing I wanted to do was raise cattle so I left university, and came home. That was in 1972 and since then I have not worked for anyone but myself ( and my father... and the bank of course) except for working some cattle sales , washing and clipping .... when I was much younger than I am now.

I do not regret my years in college as it was as much an education in life in general, as it was in the field of Animal Science. As the old saying goes, college is the only vacation a guy gets between his mother...  and his wife. I really never applied myself in college, just like I never applied myself in high school .I sometimes wish I could go back and at least put in a little effort and see what would have happened.

I sometimes think that I did not have my childhood until I was in my 20s and 30s. While I was in school, I was expected to work before I left for school as well as after I got home. I usually rode my horse for several hours after getting home from school rounding up the cattle and bringing them home for the night. Oftentimes, it was well past dark when I put the horse away and went in for my supper. In some ways I kinda miss this. It was a great way to enjpy the nature around you and the cattle as well.

I am sure many of you have wondered like I have, where you would have ended up if you had taken the  other fork in life's road. I have had numerous opportunities to do other things but have stuck to my roots and to raising my cattle.

 

[rmbcows]

Great post Red!!  Brings back a lot of memories reading about the good ole' days.   My favorite part is hearing about every one's first car... man there were some great cars back in the day!!!  My first "car" was a 70 ford pu.  Remember when we all had curtains in the back windows of our trucks??? (or was that only a local thing lol ) Oh, and the CB craze.. we all had cb radios with two big whip antenna's.   As the old song says "I was country, when country wasn't cool".  Got called "goat roper",  "pig puncher" and all those other redneck names like it was supposed to hurt my feelings.  HA  little did they know it was a compliment to me.

 

[DLD]

I went to a small school, too. 18 in my graduating class. I was never athletic, and though I had a few friends, I was always an outsider 'til high school. By then, between showing and FFA my circle of friends grew big enough I wasn't an outsider anymore. I think in a way it was good, because I've never since minded bein' different - some folks never learn that. Once I got past algebra, grades were never a problem for me. I never brought a book home except to do my senior research paper, but I knew college would be different, so the transition wasn't all that bad.
I was never in with the "cool kids" (there weren't enough of 'em to worry about anyway - lol), though I got along with most everybody. I always loved music, and my (much) older siblings got me started on concerts early on, and I went to lots during my high school and college years - Alabama, George Strait, Hank Jr, Journey, ZZ Top just to name a few.  I never really dated, 'til the spring of my senior year, when I started going out with the girl I ended up marrying (we'd been in the same class since kindergarten). Come to think of it, that was right about the time I got my first truck, too... a blue and white '81 Ford F150 4X4 (before that, I'd driven whatever farm truck I could get loose that day). It wasn't especially fast, or even especially tall, but it was only a couple of years old and it looked pretty good, so I was plenty proud.  I guess I haven't changed much - I still like the same girl, Ford 4X4 pickups, good music and good cattle. Just add in my kids now.

As far as reunions go, we've had one, and I really enjoyed it. I think it was an odd year for us, 16 or 17 maybe. I think we had 9 class members show up, so I guess that wasn't bad. Funny thing was we had part of it here, at our house, and 2 that live within a mile of us didn't come (though one's wife and kids did - lol). I was one of the two people that put it together, and I just haven't seen the other one in awhile. I've been thinking we ought to try and stir something up for this summer though - It'll be 25 years. Hard to believe...

I started to add a little about college in here, but that sounds like material for a whole new thread.

 

[Ruchian]

    I'm a senior in high school.  I quit playing sports in 8th grade to focus more on school work and showing.  The majority of my classes the last two years have been college  classes.  I'm not part of the popular group but that's because I choose not to be, they're to fake.  I know most of the popular people along with people from every group.  I mainly hang out with the other hicks though.  I show in 4-H because my school doesn't have an FFA program.  There are only 2 or 3 other people that show cattle at my school.  My school isn't very small.  It's best known for basketball. We won state last year led by Kyle Singler.

 

[farmboy]

we won state basketball a couple years ago and for 5 straight years we made it to regionals, 1 step from state.

First year we got beat on a buzzer 3 in the state semies
second year we lost in the regional finals against a prep school called africentric
3rd year we lost to them again and they went on to win state..BUT they found an illegal tranfer player so their record got put at 0-20 and got stripped
4th year we pulled through and beat the semis by 3 points then blew out the team in the final

the next year all our dood players went to college but we still managed regionals again, lostto the state champs

 

[feeder duck]

  Had a Mullet and I wore wranglers so I guess I was never considered a Jock. Maybe a wanna be steer jock.The only team I was on was the judging team. Got along with all crowds. Just a farm boy that like to "head bang" Almost 40 and still love my hard rock and hair bands.I had a girl friend all thru school. I deffinately would not do that again. DATE AROUND. Did not even think about college until my senoir year. Then it was Jr. College prep time. Didn't go to Florida with my buddies as a senior. I went to Oklahoma to the Shorthorn Jr Nationals instead. Graduated as my high schools vocational student of the year,thanks to my ag classes.Went on to Jr. College. Got great grade in college. I just had my 20 year class reunion and I am still wearing wranglers and some cinch , my mullet is gone and the grey hair has taken over.I guess my class reunion was ok. I work with what was my best friends in high shool and we are still friends.  I am about the only guy that is left in the livestock or farming field  from my class. The only other guy I graduated with actually has  followed the same path as myself. We went to Kindergarden thur Jr college together. We now work at the same place. I am married (not to my high school sweetheart) That's another chapter that ended!I have a great wife and two awesome kids.This is my oldest first official year of 4-H and it is hard to believe he is nine years from writing this type of message of his own. Thru it all cattle have been my passion and my small amount of success came well after high school.It goes fast!!!!!!!!!

 

[renegade]

I was born in idaho, moved to missouri when i was 8 and never really took to it(lived there 7 years) and at the begging of my freshman year we moved back to idaho. I have always gone to a big school, except for like 2 months at the end of my 8th grade year. I HATED it, the school only went to the eight grade and every one knew everyone else's bussines (whether true or not) and the DRAMA almost killed me. Then all 30 of us moved to bigger surrounding schools ( i went back to my old school) and a month later we came back to idaho.

While we were looking for a new house here we stayed with my dads brother and borded the one horse we brought with us at someone elses house(a beautiful mustang gelding that we adopted here in idaho and he has moved with us each time). I almost died. No animals to play with and i was with all of these city kids, mostly mexican... no being racist but they werent very friendly... i sat with a few people at lunch and had some fun with the guys in my welding class but i was the only girl AND freshman but other than that i just sat in quietly in my classes. Luckly we found a place about two months later and i moved to the "rural" school.

It was a mile down the road from the school i had been going to but it was mainly kids outside the city limits so there were more country kids. My freshmen year i just hung out with Seniors and Juniors and i was still a little shy. I joined FFA and went to class. I eventually became an ffa officer and became more outgoing and met a lot of people. I have always hung out with older kids because i dont like the drama and immaturity of younger kids. I have a new "family" which is the officers i have known for 3 to 4 years and have sereved with for 2 years. We hang out a lot and practically live together for about a 1/3 of the summer and like 1/4 of the year! Never been the most popular but i get along with almost every clique (dont really talk to goth people or "gansters" cause they dont talk to me).

I was voted biggest girl redneck for my class and one of my good friends was voted biggest guy redneck. It may be cause of the wranglers,showing horses and cattle, being called "queen of FFA" by some of my guy friends :, and now trying out for a state ffa office but i dont know . Myfirst vehicle was a ford 250 that was lifted  8) and had a massive brush gaurd on the front(all before i bought it). now i drive that, a little isuzu, and my moms Dodge 2500 V10 ;D.

 

[Jill]

My story is probably different from anyone on this board.  I grew up in Mission, KS just outside of Kansas City, I went to a small private school where I was very active.  I was a cheerleader (I know, but I wasn't that kind) played tennis, volleyball and spent most of the summer at the local swimming pool.  My 1st car was a Volkswagon VW, I loved that car, it would go anywhere on little or no gas and we ran it to death, I was the oldest of 3 girls, so I drove most places.  I loved school, it came very easy for me and I loved the social time, I didn't attend college, didn't see the need for it as I really didn't have anything I especially wanted to be and it's just as well, because my interest totally changed when I met my husband.  We both loved to dance, and met in a bar where we both went to swing dance.  He bought me my 1st pair of chore boots and I can still remember taking them over to show my dad, I was so proud and he said "I didn't raise my daughter to wear no gum boots" (he has gotten used to it). 
My school doesn't have reunions, but we go to my husbands, most of the kids in his class still live here in Gardner so I know a lot of them, we were pregnant with our 1st child at his 20 year reunion, while 4 or 5 of them already had grandchildren.
Fun topic!

 

[aj]

O.K. telos. I had 17 in my class. So our school wasn't really big enough to have a jock against the nerds groups or any thing. I didn't show much out side of county fair. I had great parents. Dad was usually my hero and my mom a saint. They didn't drink or smoke so me and my 2 brothers tried to make up the difference int drinking catagory(in college though). Pretty much threw my efforts into football.I still sometimes miss the walking out of the locker room and upchucking before strapping it on. Then running onto the field with your head on a swivel and eyes wide open and scared to death. I was scared to death of women and I still am. Didn't get married till I was 32. I had 2 dates in high school and 3 in college. So I guess I was a all state nosetackle nerd scared of women that liked cattle? Once while trying to break up a fight at the drive in movie I also puked on a police officer(that didn't go over real well). I have never been convicted of a dui

 

[cattlejunky]

Well I guess I was in the popular crowd you would say.  We had a group of about 8 or 10 girls and about the same amount of guys that all hung out.  We weren't mean to anybody. We weren't the cheerleaders!  Played Basketball until 9th grade,Volleyball all thru and Softball. I was in the band and 4-H.  I was pretty good at V-ball and S-ball.  I was pom pon girl my Senior year.  Went on a band trip every year and they were always a blast.  I was not a band geek though!  Started showing in 4th grade.  I never showed out of state.  Several kids in my class showed cattle and others showed horses, hogs, or sheep.
Dated alot my junior and senior year.  My husband and I showed cattle in the same county and started dating after I graduated.  My first car was an old 69 greenbriair station wagon with holes in the floor board.  You would get dusted out going down our gravel road.  It had been my grandpa's. All I cared about was it ran and all of my friends would load up and go to town in it.  Got an 81 toyota Celica when I was a senior I loved that car.  Had a sunroof and a stereo with a cassette player and it came with a car bra. Went to Daytona Beach on Spring break with my mom and my good friend.  110 in my graduating class.  We were a rural school.Went to a private school when I was in 8th grade and I hated it.  Had to wear a skirt everyday. (YUCK).  Did good in school in elementary, jr high and high school I was a B and C student.  I was more interested in socializing.  President of my 4-H club for about 4 years.  I missed my 5 year reunion, but have been to all the others.  I planned our 15 and 20 year.  There are a lot I do not want to see, but more that I do. Went to College 1 year, but spent most of my time at my husbands college.  Needless to say my grades in college stunk.  Loved it all good and bad.  

 

[red]

Oh AJ (lol) (lol) (lol)

Red

 

[common sense]

I really love reading this thread!  It's fun to get a mental picture of those I have not met and change my mental picture of those that I have met.  Very good stuff!  (clapping)

 

[uluru]

As I am likely one of the real oldies on this site my high school was similar to JIT. Also not that far away from him.
I do have a few years on him though.

6 in my grade 12 graduating class. (1959)
12 started in grade one together and 3 of the 12 finished grade 12 together.

Shortly after I started school in grade one my father switched to strictly grain farming and we moved to the local town and farmed from town.
The farm was ten miles from the town and my father drove back and forth every day, except Sunday.
7 days week during seeding and harvest.
By the time I was 10 I went with him most days during summer holidays and by the time I was an early teen
I would not start back to school in the fall until after harvest was finished.
I found high school very easy and didn't work at it at all.
Never studied and just did what I had to do to get a passing grade.
Teachers were always on my case to work harder and get better grades.

During my high school years I was a jock and lived for hockey in the winter.
Started playing hockey at about age 4 on bob skates and became pretty good.
Ended my junior career after some injuries to my knees.
I wasn't big enough yet thought I was king kong.
Being a jock helped with the girls.
In those days you either liked Pat Boone or Elvis.
Elvis was more my style.

After grade twelve I had had it with farming.
My father worked me like a slave when I look back.
No wonder I wanted to do something different when I turned 18.
I went into the oil field work.
It paid big bucks in those days but was also very dangerous. They hadn't heard of workplace safety.
After a few months my best buddy lost his foot and I decided that if I wanted a longer life I had better find something else to do.
I joined a bank and spent the next 42 years of my life in the financial services industry.
As they say the rest is history.

In so far as school reunions are concerned we only had one and I organised it in 2006 when my fellow grade one students all turned 65.
We had about 8 of the 12 grade one students show up and our grade one teacher from 1946.
Also 4 of the six grade twelve students showed up.
What a riot to see all these people after, in some cases over 40 years.

High school was fun for me and life was much simpler in those days.

We lived in a very small town in SE Sask which now hardly exists and has no services at all.
Part of the surrounding land has been handed back to the aboriginals under land claim settlements
which makes for interesting discussion with the older locals that remain in the town

...Bob

 

[Rocky Hill Simmental]

I only graduated back in May 2007 but here goes.

There were 19 students in my class. I graduated 3rd in my class. I had an A in every class - except math, I had a C in math (because I'm not good at it). My favorite classes where art and ag. My ag class rocked my senior year because there were only 2 students in there.  ;D

I was in FFA, NHS, FBLA, and Pep Club. I was the first person in my chapter to show cattle in FFA in 5 years. I was the first to show cattle with this advisor too. She was happy when someone finally told her they wanted to show. My first heifer I showed was the class winner too which is pretty good for the first year. This year (2007 - probably my last in FFA) my heifer won grand champion and nobody's had any livestock win that title since I've been in school.

I also was on FFA teams. My team made it to state in dairy cattle judging and I had the high score. My senior year we almost made it to state in livestock judging but I did good (8th in districts) and everyone else placed 40th or so... so we didn't get to go, even though I know way more about livestock than I do dairy cattle.  ???

The only other cool thing I did was painted murals in our school, which was fun too.

I never played any sports but my school was basketball crazy. The girl's basketball team was actually pretty good. They got third in the state of MO my junior year. A lot of guys from my school rode bulls too.

I was a loner. I didn't talk to many people there. I mostly just did my homework, broke heifers, and did more homework. I guess I was kind of a nerd too... I liked computers and anime. And I actually did my homework and studied. I didn't have a boyfriend either but most people at my school were related anyway.

When I started college (back in August lol), I was going to major in art education but the art department made me mad. You know those TV shows where the art teachers are real mean and say everyone's paintings suck except their's? That's exactly how they were. I didn't mind that too much, really. It really made me mad when they said I'd fail if I missed class to show my cattle. So I dropped out of my art classes and started taking general education. I'm thinking about majoring in animal science. I signed up for an animal science next semester so I'll see how that goes.