Poll: Would You Go To Your Grade School Reunion?

[REWahoo]

I'd go to my 50th H.S. one, if there was one, but I would probably wear a disguise.

When I attended my 50th, everyone came disguised - as an old person...

 

[bingybear]

I really don't know. There are a few people still in my life... I've been to a couple HS reunions over the years. Good catching up with a few people.... not sure what to think about the people that would not give me the time of day in HS acting like we were best friends.
I might go.... but likely not spend a lot of time.

 

[anethum]

Years ago, after my mom came back from attending her 50th high school reunion, she said, "the women didn't look great, but the men looked like hell".

 

[pjm-7]

The elementary and HS people were pretty much the same group. I recently received a notice about my 40th HS reunion next year. I don't know if it is worth my time to travel over 1000 miles to see a bunch of people who didn't care about me then, so why would they now. My goal in HS was to get as far and fast as I could from that place. I accomplished my goal.

 

[14thMed]

grade school

I went to a one room grade school (K-8)with a total of 26-30 students,of which a quarter of them were relatives.My only classmate was my cousin.Basically have a class reunion when we have a family reunion.

 

[bjorn2bwild]

I left grade school on a high note - as class president. If I could borrow Trumps helicopter, I would definitely drop in.

 

[hnzw_rui]

Haven't kept in touch with anyone from grade school (and to be honest, I only remember maybe a couple of names and faces).

Close high school friends, I still keep in touch with via Facebook and we meet at malls or restaurants when I go on vacation to the Philippines. Alumni homecoming for our HS is at a pretty incovenient time though (storm season) so I don't think I'll be attending one of those.

 

[Nodak]

I grew up in a small town and most of the people I graduated with were people I started kindergarten with. We just had our 50th anniversary class reunion. I have never heard of a grade school reunion.

 

[scrabbler1]

I went to 2 different grade schools, one for Kindergarten and grades 4-6, and the other for grades 1-3. The first school still exists but the second one was closed after I finished the third grade in 1972 and was soon torn down to build some houses on the land.


I have no interest in going to any reunions for grade school or high school. The kids treated me like crap because I was smart, skinny kid who was the teachers' pet. Other than a "Revenge of the Nerds" motive (which only very slightly tempts me), I have no interest in attending any kind of reunion. College reunion I would not attend, either, because I don't know anyone from my graduating class (NYU business school, a huge class). And, I don't want to pay $100+ and have to go into Manhattan for it.


Waste of time.

 

[hnzw_rui]

I have no interest in going to any reunions for grade school or high school. The kids treated me like crap because I was smart, skinny kid who was the teachers' pet. Other than a "Revenge of the Nerds" motive (which only very slightly tempts me), I have no interest in attending any kind of reunion.

That's one thing I really enjoyed about my high school. I went somewhere similar to a magnet school in the US and everyone was on academic scholarship so we were pretty much all nerds.

 

[Rick_Head]

My grade 8 class had 7 students. Three are dead and I run into the others every 4 or 5 years. Reunion? GMAFB.

 

[Badger]

Since I grew up in a military family I went to at least 6 grade schools (and 4 Jr and Sr High Schools). Most probably don't exist anymore especially the quonset hut from 3rd grade. I don't remember any of my grade school classmates that I only knew for less than a year. I never even heard of a grade school reunion until these postings.

I went to the 20th and 40th high school reunions and had a great time. I even worked on the last one pushing the class officers to have one and locating classmates but there was just not enough interest from them to have a 50th next year.

Never been to my college or grad school reunions but stay in touch with a few friends and would like to see a few others. College was small and reunions are mainly for all graduating classes with only a handful of folks from my class attending. Unfortunately everyone is spread out over the country. I would think by now most would have a better opportunity to attend since they would be retired but I doubt there will be any more in the future.

Cheers!

 

[braumeister]

My grade school closed many years ago, so that would be a nonstarter for me.

But reunions seem to be all over the map. Some schools have great ones, others not so much.

I was contacted by a couple of college friends about a year before our 40 year college reunion, and we got a group of about 8-10 of us who all agreed to attend. We hadn't seen each other in all those years.

The guy who lived closest to the college contacted them and asked about special tables for a 40 year group. He was stunned when they said they had no interest in anything but the 25 and 50 year classes, so we would be on our own. We were all put off by that, enough that we cancelled any plans to attend, and have no intention of going to the 50 year reunion either. But some of us have visited each other privately, which is better IMHO.

OTOH, DW's college makes a big deal about every 5 year group, and a huge deal about every 10 year group. We both enjoy going to those every five years. I'm sure it's a big help to their fundraising, too.

 

[athena53]

I went to one grade school through 5th grade, skipped around for 6th (Dad changed jobs, didn't like new job, we relocated again), then the same grade school for 7th and 8th. Most of us then went to the same HS.

Most people form the first grade school wouldn't remember me, but I have good memories of the place.

I went to the 5th HS reunion. Boring. Before the 40th they started a FB page and i got comfortable enough with where I was and where they were that I went. I had a great time. It was like meeting new friends with whom I strangely had a lot in common. I was on the fringe in HS- introverted, bookish, awkward. Many of the women in the "popular" clique have turned out to be really nice. Some who were on the fringe have blossomed.

This year they decided to have a picnic celebrating the 50th anniversary of the founding of the school. When they announced they were bringing back some of the nuns who had taught us (they must not have been that much older than us), I bought plane tickets THEN told DH. Another great trip. The flights even ran on time! One woman who showed up was someone I barely remembered from HS- she'd been though bad choices with men, had come back from drug addiction and was a real character. My favorite picture from the reunion was of her and another classmate standing in front of the school building, each with a glass of wine in one hand and a cigarette in the other.

I'll probably go back to the 45th next year if DH and I aren't traveling. I can't explain why but making those trips nourishes me. Maybe it's that my weirdnesses led me to a great place in life- I was terrible at team sports and HATED gym class but my extensive bicycling keeps me in great shape. My geekiness resulted in a wonderful career and a well-funded retirement.

 

[SoReady]

The day after my 20th high school reunion, my elementary school classmates got together for a reunion. Virtually everyone enjoyed the elementary school reunion more than the high school one. Our high school was huge and I didn't know the majority of my classmates while I was in high school. However, I knew all of my elementary school classmates, and like most of them. We have continued to have periodic elementary school reunions, and few of us bother going to our high school reunions anymore.

+1 on this.

My HS class was 1200, grade school was 80. The grade school reunion is much more intimate and fun. In fact we are getting together again this Oct for a college football game then pizza afterward.

 

[HFWR]

I went to high school with the same group from grade school anyway.

That...

 

[Dash man]

Not at all interested. I might go to a reunion of one of my old Air Force squadrons. There's one old ops officer I'd like to punch in the nose.


Sent from my iPhone using Early Retirement Forum

 

[DFA]

Went to 30 year reunion, never again, nothing changes in a small town where most never leave. I join the military after graduation and only looked back that one time; I visit my sisters once in awhile and everyone else is dead except for a few cousins that I have not seen in years.

 

[marko]

On the plus side, because a lot of my HS alumni are all over the world, they do a separate reunion for ALL classes/ages in different parts of the world each year.

Locally, Florida, California, London and Tokyo. I think it's a good idea. (still wouldn't go, but...)

 

[Gumby]

I answered "Other", as going to a reunion is not an option to even ponder.

I went to 4 different grade schools. They no longer exist. And I do not remember any of my classmates. Not their names, not what they looked back then. And I certainly would not recognize any of the geezers they would be now.

Same here. I went to 8 different schools in 8 different towns between the 1st and 8th grades, and then 2 different high schools. After I graduated high school in 1977 and joined the Navy, I never again saw one of my classmates.

 

[Bestwifeever]

I went to a lot of schools too, and can think of only a couple of names of classmates up through twelfth grade. I don't know that I would see anyone at a reunion that I would really remember except a couple of old boyfriends who I didn't keep in touch with once I went away. One "best friend" who I found again several years ago but didn't keep up the rekindled friendship after a few emails to catch up.

DH has reunions all the time with his childhood friends from his small town, and both our kids, who went to our neighborhood grade school all the way through, have mentioned they would love to go to a reunion. And some of my friends who have lived their whole lives in the Chicago area still hang out with their childhood friends. So it's just different.

What I would really like to see is an updated yearbook to find out who became famous or infamous when they grew up. With photos. Maybe they call that Facebook.

 

[Moemg]

I went with my SO to his grade school reunion . He grew up on Anna Marie Island so it was a small group but everyone was so nice . They all shared memories of those days (How they remembered I don't know ) . It was a fun day .

 

[scrabbler1]

What I would really like to see is an updated yearbook to find out who became famous or infamous when they grew up. With photos. Maybe they call that Facebook.

This reminded me of what the reunion people did back in 2001 prior to my 20th HS reunion (which I didn't attend, of course). They has sent out a form asking us graduates what we had been up to since we graduated in 1981 and a few other brief questions. I didn't reply, of course, but I did learn from the one HS friend I barely kept in touch with over the years and he was able to obtain a copy of compilation of replies from a bunch of the graduates and sent it to me. I actually found it mildly interesting although what I found the most fascinating was the ages of the kids of many of the female graduates. Several of them had kids who were 17, 18, even 19 years old, so I guess I know what they were doing shortly after finishing HS .

 

[freebird5825]

I attended Catholic school for 12 years. My neighborhood friends were in grade school with me but not high school. Then I left the area to attend college and never returned after college graduation.

I did attend 2 high school reunions, which were great fun. My high school was all girls. I am connected to my high school page on FB but I rarely use FB.

If I still lived in the area where I grew up, I think I would attend a grade school reunion. I was in the nerd crowd, with lots of company.

 

[jollystomper]

I would go. I had a normal grade school and am still in touch with about half a dozen of my friends from my time (2 of them also went to college with me). I don't mind seeing what has become of others, and I don't care about what folks think about my life and career, so it is all good.

I have gone back for several high school reunions and all but one of my college reunions, only missing them due to some work/family conflict.