Were you a part of the "In" Crowd or a "Geek"

**Sue** · 10-25-2007, 09:03 PM

As a student in High School were you in the "In" Crowd, a "Geek", a "Jock" or just a 'Nobody"?

I wore glasses and was a band member and therefore far too Geeky. I didn't have the IN clothes either. Ben Casey blouses and White Ruffle blouses with a short, very short black skirt and 'black' nylons. My skirt had to touch my knee, black nylons? --oh, hell no!. What were my parents thinking??

When Black and White Saddle shoes with 'Black' soles were in. My Mom bought me a pair 'on sale' with White soles........"Horrors" ! These are wrong! I'm not taking them back, you wear them or else.

Walk to school? A whole 1.25 miles? Yeah, make sure you zip up it's cold. Everyone else can ride with their friends who just got their license.

No wonder I was a Geek! Glasses, wrong clothes, wrong shoes, walking lugging a cornet, books and oh yeah, a brown bag lunch.

Who were you?

Sue

**papasmurf** · 10-25-2007, 09:07 PM

from junior high to high school I was the leader of the "in" crowd . I actually fell into the position after my 2 older brothers got out of the school and for some reason Every one in the school loved them and I took over when they graduated and the position stuck with me . thinking back I wish I was never in that position as I would probably be much better off right now . Since I had to keep up the persona I did not do very well in my classes . I ended up trying harder to be the class clown then I would with my studies .

Nick

**masonjarjar** · 10-25-2007, 09:19 PM

There were many shades of grey in our school.. actually in my class there were really few "geeks" - for some reason our class just got along, for the most part.

I kept peace with everyone by being funny and making everyone laugh, though being a band/theater person, I wasn't exactly a jock..

What amazes me most about my (small town Ohio) high school is how out-of-touch we were with reality.. of course, we didn't have the internet as the great equalizer like they do today. We were about 4 years behind in pretty much ever trend you can think of..lol.

-Mason

**moses** · 10-25-2007, 10:06 PM

Well, the old traditional divisions are much much simpler than the reality.

At my school there were definitely some geeks who were also part of the in crowd. The most popular cheerleader spent half her day at a math/science governor's school, where we were all geeks for that part of the day.

So obviously I was a geek too. But not part of the in crowd. Except I was pretty popular among the geeks. (See... like I said, much more complicated than Saved By The Bell indicated). I hung with the theater artsy crowd, mostly.

-Mo

**hereandnow** · 10-25-2007, 10:10 PM

I was pretty much "in" at school.

But as I grow older, I find myself becoming more and more geeky.

**TimmyBoston** · 10-25-2007, 10:54 PM

I was all of the above in high school. I lucky enough to be all state in a couple sports, dated a very popular girl on the homecoming court, but inside I really was a huge geek, nerdy classes and full of the standard adolescent insecurities. Some of my best friends were geeks and some definitely weren't.

In college, I was just in the "In" Crowd, I guess you call it, but I probably wasn't really myself, I was drunk all the time.

Though, I feel deep down everyone's a geek.

**patrisVII** · 10-26-2007, 05:01 AM

Definetly a geek in HS.
I read comics, played D&D (preferred Traveler though), liked old movies (esp. MGM musicals), studied the piss out of philosophy and economics, hated sports & heavy metal, loved jazz, never had a girl friend until my senior year (I worked at a resort during the summers and did my girl chasing there)
I was a very non-committed student and I really considered school a waste of time (still do although I am much more adamant about it now).
I was involved in Judo for most of my childhood all the way through HS, so I was never bullied (did get in one fight - it was very short).

My wife calls me geek all the time, but I think she's just being nice cause all the other women I know use words like " cute" "hunk" and "baldwin".

**jazzman** · 10-26-2007, 05:18 AM

A cute girl who plays the cornet, too? What's not to love?

**Dr. Mike** · 10-26-2007, 05:32 AM

I wasn't part of the in crowd, but I also wasn't a nobody or a geek. I would say I was borderline nerd. Most people knew me, and I got along with most. I stood out in a couple of ways - I was valedictorian, I wore combat boots and green Doc. Martens, and I also spouted off on political subjects (I know, shocker, especially if you look where the majority of my posts on this forum are going). My best friend and I were walking contradictions. He dressed very conservatively and spoke very liberally, while I dressed like a punk and spoke like an arch-conservative. I got along with most, though, as I said, and didn't have to deal with the hang ups of being in any one group.

**Dr. Mike** · 10-26-2007, 05:33 AM

And I played the baritone saxophone! Long live band geeks!

**Austin** · 10-26-2007, 05:46 AM

I was pretty much independent. I had friends from thugs to geeks. I got along well with most of the student body.

**rm71** · 10-26-2007, 05:49 AM

I was somewhere in the middle...I think. More towards the "normal" side although that was hard when you were only 1 of 3 other italians in the school.

**farace** · 10-26-2007, 06:02 AM

Definitely geek, but we weren't called geeks or nerds, we were called Melvins, or just Mels for short. So we turned it around and started the Mel Society of America, or MELSA. It was not easy to get in; we had an application with essay questions, and pretty soon a lot of the "in" people were applying to join. That being said, I have to say we had a great class and there was a lot of overlap between Mels, jocks, band/drama, and just plain popular kids. Someone could be all of those things, and I can remember some that were.

Some of us Mels were just late bloomers, and I have to say that many of us ended up being much more cool and interesting in the long run than are some of those that were "in" back then.

**Frank7580** · 10-26-2007, 06:04 AM

What a great thread... forces me to look back.

In high school I mostly thought of myself as one with few friends. Those I had were good friends but not I didn't have too many of them. I saw myself outside of the "in" crowd and thus spent a lot of time chasing the attention that those who were "in" seemed to receive. However, I was involved in many athletics and this increased one's circle of friends substantially.

Looking back, I'll say that I also held a pretty arrogant attitude toward many of my peers that didn't hold the same opinions or outlook as me. I really had the audacity to assume that if others didn't see things the way I did, they were obviously wrong in their way of thinking. And again, I would look down on them because of this. (Perhaps, this contributed to my perception that others didn't really like me.... they may have had good reason not to.) Unfortunately, I occasionally wrestle with these fool-hardy, self-centered notions even now. I like to think that I have improved significantly from my former self... but traces of the "old man" inevitably pop-up. I'm still a work in progress...

Sometime after high school I came to realize (as do most of us) that those who held the "higher positions" in HS rarely admired their own stations...

**Texican** · 10-26-2007, 06:05 AM

Originally Posted by Austin

I was pretty much independent. I had friends from thugs to geeks. I got along well with most of the student body.

The same with me. Although I was a member of the honor roll, a drill captain on the marching band, and was active in Academic Decathlon, I was friends with just about everyone - jocks, preps, geeks, etc.

When I got into college, things changed. I became much more insular and preferred a small circle of friends. Probably because of the sheer size of UT: Austin and the fact that I chose Classics, which required me to study my butt off to learn Greek.

**Antique Hoosier** · 10-26-2007, 06:05 AM

Originally Posted by jazzman

A cute girl who plays the cornet, too? What's not to love?

One time at band camp.....

**johnniegold** · 10-26-2007, 06:16 AM

Like Austin, I ran in all different circles. I guess that's why I have 20 different razors. It just kept things interesting.

ROONEY:
What's so dangerous about a character
like Ferris Bueller is that he gives
the good kids bad ideas. The last thing
I need at this point in my career is
fifteen hundred Ferris Bueller disciples
running around these halls.

SECRETARY:
He's very popular, Ed. Sportos, motorheads,
geeks, sluts, pinheads, dweebies, wonkers,
richies, they all adore him.

This thread reminds me of this scene from Ferris Bueller.

**farace** · 10-26-2007, 06:21 AM

Originally Posted by johnniegold

\SECRETARY:
He's very popular, Ed. Sportos, motorheads,
geeks, sluts, pinheads, dweebies, wonkers,
richies, they all adore him.

Interesting aside, we had different names for at least the first three groups mentioned. Jocks and Mels are easily understood. But our Motorheads were called Torques for some reason. I still kind of like that better, it has more twist to it.

**patrisVII** · 10-26-2007, 06:40 AM

Originally Posted by Frank7580

What a great thread... .

Looking back, I'll say that I also held a pretty arrogant attitude toward many of my peers that didn't hold the same opinions or outlook as me. I really had the audacity to assume that if others didn't see things the way I did, they were obviously wrong in their way of thinking. And again, I would look down on them because of this. (Perhaps, this contributed to my perception that others didn't really like me.... they may have had good reason not to.) Unfortunately, I occasionally wrestle with these fool-hardy, self-centered notions even now. I like to think that I have improved significantly from my former self... but traces of the "old man" inevitably pop-up. I'm still a work in progress...

You're not a geek.....your a post-modern!

**Sue** · 10-26-2007, 06:41 AM

What was the name of that movie? It was so dumb it was funny. Never went to a camp in six years of music, I just assualted the ears of my family and neighbors practicing. Made first chair for the last two years of band. Our band teacher wouldn't have a job in todays world. If you made any errors, he'd scream and rant while his face glowed red, sometimes breaking his baton over his music stand in a fit of rage. He was pretty scarry. No one knew with the sound barrier of the band room.

Discovered boys and hanging out with my group of friends at the Drive-In restaurant and put the cornet in it's case where it stayed never to see the light of day again. I hoped the boy I had a crush on would somehow read my mind because I was too bashful to talk to him. I found out months later, he had came to my house twice and my Mom didn't tell me. By then he had a girlfriend; I was crushed.
Sue