That High School Thing

[fenchurch]

School and Year you graduated:
Riverside High School, 1987

Number of people in your graduating class:
I think there wound up being 85

Nickname in high school?
Well, Fenchurch and Fen -- I got those particular nicknames when I was 14 and I had several fannish friends at my last high school (went there my Junior and Senior years), and the names eventually got picked up by everyone.

Sport you were into?
None

Had a circle of friends?
Yeah. Or, rather, I had a few really good friends, and then a huge circle of acquaintances. That was one thing I really liked about my last high school... I got along with practically everyone, and didn't generally hang out with one particular crowd, but there were so few students in that school that there was a lot of overlapping to begin with.

Best subject?
Math and English.

Worst subject?
I guess I'd have to say P.E. though I don't know if it counts, since I had a medical release getting me out of that subject from 6th grade on.

A teacher you owe life lessons to?
Mr. McClure, my math teacher. I seriously considered majoring in Math because of that man...

Describe in one word...
Freshman (year 9): Fannish (I'd discovered fandom the summer before my freshman year -- I came back to school barely able to relate to anyone there... having gotten so used to hanging out with other fans at the local university's SF&F club)
Sophomore (year 10): Amusing
Junior (year 11): Different
Senior (year 12): Depressing (my parents divorced at the beginning of that school year)

Your best friend was?
Adam. Everyone was positive we were dating, when we were simply really good friends. I'd stop by his house in the evenings and we'd go out for walks (this was an EXTREMELY rural area) and would do silly things when we saw cars coming, like run quickly in opposite directions then walk toward each other like we just happened to be out walking at the same time, miles from anywhere. Oh, and after I found a place to buy black fingernail polish (not easy to do in that region in the mid-80s), we'd sit around and paint each others' nails and chat about whatever. I need to see if I can track him down again, I think. It's been a few years since I last heard from him.

Worst friend?
Didn't really have a worst.

Cafeteria food sucked?
Eh. It was okay. There were a few things that I find myself wanting again at odd times, and our cafeteria made the best sweet potatoes I've ever had. I've never been able to duplicate them.

Wore uniforms?
Nope

How was the prom?
The prom itself really sucked... though I still had fun, since I went with Adam. Okay, so maybe it wasn't the brightest idea, since we were getting sick of people thinking we were dating, but the only reason we went was because we both wanted to say we'd gone to our proms (technically ours was a combined Junior/Senior Prom... and he was a Junior). Adam hadn't publicly come out of the closet at that point (though he'd started talking things through at that point and I was his best friend) and it would not have gone over well with most of the people in our school.

Who were the prom king and queen?
I have no idea.

Any achievements?
I got an award from the Society of Women Engineers and also got the "Best Library Aide" award. We didn't have an Honor Society, but the school was small enough, that they had a de facto Honor's Track -- the kids in the few AP classes wound up in the same "regular" classes since those were generally the only ones available around the AP schedule (in other words, even though they didn't call them AP, the classes effectively were, since they were comprised almost entirely of the "Advanced" students). Oh, and I lettered in band, twice. There weren't that many opportunities for much more at our high school... and I was working 20-30 hours a week around my school schedule so I didn't have a lot of time for normal extracurricular activities.

Were you popular?
No, not really... though not unpopular either. I got along with nearly everyone, even if I wasn't part of their cliques.

Best song that reminds you of high school?
Song? Hmmm. I can't really think of one. Heh. Maybe "Consider Me Gone" by Sting, simply because it was the big joke among the Honors crowd that we should play it as our "Song" at graduation.

Comments

[onetwomany.livejournal.com]

I need to see if I can track him down again, I think. It's been a few years since I last heard from him.

I had a couple of friends like that, too. Folks I was close too but whom I've now completely lost contact with. Gonna have to do the same thing and track 'em down. I'll probably get a big surprise.

and I was wondering how you got 'Fen' as a name.

[tomte.livejournal.com]

Haven't thought about high school in a good long while, but whatthehell, I think I'll do this too.

School and Year you graduated:
Provo High School, 1987

Number of people in your graduating class:
Too lazy to look it up. Prolly around 300.

Nickname in high school?
I had numerous nicknames. The two most popular were Red (for the hair) and Big Fig (thanks to a popular theory that I was just a mass delusion--a figment of everyone's imagination. And yes, there was a Little Fig).

Sport you were into?
High school was the point where I finally discovered there was a sport I could do and do well--swimming. I was on the swim team for two years.

Had a circle of friends?
All but a few of my high school friends were what one would have to call friends of proximity--the kind of people I wouldn't have sought out as friends, but who ended up being about my age and in my classes and possessed of a reasonable degree of simpatico.

Best subject?
English. I managed to letter in it, despite failing one semester out of sheer laziness.

Worst subject?
Mathematics, specifically algebra. I nearly failed to graduate because of algebra--had to take a test three times before I finally got a passing grade.

A teacher you owe life lessons to?
Michael Rutter. He was sometimes immature and obnoxious, and sometimes he pulled stunts that could have gotten him sued, but he actually liked me and convinced me that I could write.

Describe in one word...
Freshman (year 9): Revelatory (school kids treating me kindly for the first time)
Sophomore (year 10): Delightful
Junior (year 11): Painful (numerous disappointments this year)
Senior (year 12): Impatient (I was SO ready to get into college)

Your best friend was?
Brad. He was kind of Fen's equivalent of Adam, in that he was dramatic, talented, more than willing to do goofy things, and (incidentally) gay. He did not know that I had my first crush on him, which was probably just as well, all things considered.

Worst friend?
Shouldn't this be "worst enemy?" By definition, if someone is your friend... ehh. Anyway, my least favorite person in high school was Fraulein Rosanna Ungerman, the drama Nazi. This was a woman who NEVER should have taught school, because it only fed her superiority complex.

Cafeteria food sucked?
Our cafeteria food won national awards, partially because it was all made fresh on the premises.

Wore uniforms?
Happily, no.

How was the prom?
Beats me; I wasn't asked. One of several reasons why my junior year was miserable. It's kind of funny to me now that I was so depressed about it, since I didn't even LIKE to dance, but it was just the fact that no one had even asked. Yeah, I was pretty pathetic.

Who were the prom king and queen?
Homer and Marge Simpson. Well, they might as well have been for all that I paid attention.

Any achievements?
As above, lettered in English. Won first place in the high school literary contest (apparently, much to the annoyance of the student body president, who came in second place. It bugged him so much that he noted it in my senior yearbook). Got a superior rating on the AP Spanish test.

Were you popular?
Here's the funny thing... although I ended up being in all the classes (creative writing, yearbook, choir, swim team, drama) with the popular kids in student government and so forth, I always considered myself something of a nobody. It's probably because I made no effort whatsoever to draw attention to myself or let people get to know me.

Best song that reminds you of high school?
We Belong, by Pat Benatar.

Was this list of interest to anyone except Fen?
Prolly not.