s/o: for fun, what did the valedictorian of your h.s. end up doing as a career?

[AnnieW625]

The leadership post got me thinking about this. Our valedictorian was not a social leader, although everyone knew who he was and he wasn't your typical nerd. He is now a medical doctor, and surgeon in Connecticut.

[pinkmomagain]

Law school professor and novelist.

[elektra]

I have no idea! I can't even remember who our valedictorian was. (Susan Hsia maybe?) I saw her at the LB acquarium a few weeks ago. She looks like she is a mom and I don't know what else.
I do know that our Homecoming queen and ASB president (a good friend of mine in HS) got involved in what amounted to a weird sex/drugs cult of In-N-Out workers and she never finished high school.
She did go to community college for a few semesters and then I recently heard she got married. I think she worked at In-N-Out for several years and became a manager and made decent money.

[scrooks]

I believe he is a doctor. He went to harvard and harvard med school ( ivy league wasn't super common at my high school)

[SpaceGal]

Mine is a professor with a PhD from Yale and teacher at a prestigous university in the subjects he excelled in at HS.

[Pinky]

We had two and they are both engineers at big fancy companies. :)

[mommylamb]

He's not on facebook, so I don't know. I'm curious now...

ETA: Googled him. He's a doctor.

[karin4]

No idea! It's been too long, and I haven't lived in my hometown for nearly as long.

WARNING- shameless mom brag coming up!

But my daughter is going to be the valedictorian of her class this year, so I'm happy to see so many "good" outcomes!

[mommylamb]

But my daughter is going to be the valedictorian of her class this year, so I'm happy to see so many "good" outcomes!
:yay:That's awesome!

[Cam&Clay]

Her family were members of a religious group that encouraged large families and marrying at a young age. It was not a mainstreamed group. I believe she is married with a large family. I doubt she ever finished college, which I find sad because she was wicked smart.

[BeachBum]

Mine got a degree in sports medicine/ physical therapy, but then went on to found one of those contemporary churches that grows to like 3,000 members no time. He doesn't preach, but runs everything else. He was a nice guy.

[almostamom]

VP of an NBA team and now VP of an NHL team.

[SnuggleBuggles]

Research at MIT, iirc. He had done all of his schooling there and I think he is still there.

Beth

[elephantmeg]

I was it and I'm a nursing coordinator. Very small class though-30 maybe? in Jamaica

[salsah]

I'm not sure because i haven't kept in touch with anyone. I think we had two.

One was smart and earned it. Given his personality, I suspect that he became successful in the sense that he is happy even if he is poor and makes a living selling his photographs.

The other did not have a leader personality (she wasn't well liked) and her parents bought her grades.

[MaiseyDog]

She went to Princeton (the only one from my class of 400 to go to an Ivy League school) and then ended up getting a PhD in Pharmacology and working for the FDA.

Our salutatorion who got beat out by tenths of a point dropped out of college and the last thing I saw on her facebook page was pictures of her pirate themed wedding, complete with an officiant dressed as a wench.

[squimp]

No idea! It's been too long, and I haven't lived in my hometown for nearly as long.

WARNING- shameless mom brag coming up!

But my daughter is going to be the valedictorian of her class this year, so I'm happy to see so many "good" outcomes!

Congratulations Karin!!!!! That is awesome!

Jana

[MamaKath]

Didn't have one at my highschool program. However my mom was her class's valedictorian and is now an ESL teacher who also volunteers a tremendous amount.

[elektra]

Congrats to elephantmeg and karin4!

[BabyMine]

I don't even remember ours.

[kerridean]

She is a nurse. She is divorced, no kids.

[minnie-zb]

He's a nuclear engineer.

[candaceb]

I just googled and discovered she is an astrobiologist at NASA. Never knew there was such a thing!

here's the description of what she does:
investigates the isotopic signature of astrochemically interesting materials such as meteorites and comets, using the lab's new gas chromatography-combustion/isotope ratio mass spectrometer (GC-C/IRMS).

[egoldber]

Statistician, then line manager, then project manager. SAHM for 8 years then a statistician for the federal government.

That would be me. ;)

[smiles33]

I think we had 3 valedictorians. 1 is at Google, 1 a professor, and the last is in pharmaceutical sales.

[Corie]

I think she is a CPA but currently a SAHM.

[karin4]

Thanks, mommylamb, elektra and Jana! She is probably the most disciplined person, and the hardest worker I've ever met.

[MontrealMum]

-English teacher
-Professor of Art History
-Professor of Psychology
-works for the CDC (first in Vietnam, now in Thailand) though I don't know what his actual job title is
-Lawyer
-Doctor, I *think* specializing in Family Medicine
-Director of a community legal resource center in inner city Detroit
-Physical therapist specializing in children

Yes, we had 8 valedictorians. That's 8 people with perfect 4.0s. Talk about a competitive environment.

[Penny's Pappa]

One has a PhD in zoology I believe and the other is a lawyer of some kind.


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Sent from the aether using Tapatalk.

[georgiegirl]

I was one of ours. I have a JD and PhD but I'm now a SAHM.

Not exactly sure what the others are doing....I think lawyer, MBA, and a psychologist.

[KpbS]

Ours both went to Harvard. He is a psychiatrist and she is a political consultant.

[misshollygolightly]

I'm working on my English PhD ;-)

[kdeunc]

Mine is a corporate communications person for a media company.

My sister was valedictorian for her class. She has a Masters in Early Childhood Education and is a Preschool Coordinator for a government child care facility. Up until last year she was in the classroom as pre-k teacher.

[maestramommy]

Our valedictorian wasn't a typical leader either. By calculation he managed to accrue the highest grade point average ever, but he wasn't in sports, music, arts, or much of anything else. Maybe he was in a couple of clubs. We had some mutual friends and the main thing I remember about him was that he was a devout Christian. During his speech he made this proclamation about Jesus Christ being his Lord and Savior. Rather gutsy I thought, for a HS kid. He had an older brother who was also a pretty good student, but mostly known for being something of a player. They were polar opposites.

I have no idea what he is doing now, but I wouldn't be surprised if he became some sort of missionary.

[kijip]

There were a few of us at the top of the class and spoke at graduation, though we had no formal valedictorian as we had no grades, top would be involvement in school, outside awards and SAT scores:

-one graduated from a top college with a Lit degree, worked in theatre and now owns a successful bookstore. Sweet life.
-one is a recent law grad with a political career, she has worked for a lot of big names in politics before entering law school. Went to top schools for undergrad, grad and law school.
-one is a non-profit fundraising professional who works at a unique social enterprise empowering homeless and low-income people. Who gave up scholarship to a big school to care for her family and thus went to community college and then state schools.

That last one would be me.

All of our science types who went into medicine or engineering or physics graduated the years before and after us. Small school.

[Momof3Labs]

I am an actuary at a global consulting firm ;)

[niccig]

Law Librarian, then SAHM and now student to be a SLP. That's me. It's taken me a while to find my niche - happens when people look at your grades and say "Law School", which is undergraduate in Australia. First college class was Contract Law. Taken me some time to figure out what *I* want to do.

[ilfaith]

Our valedictorian got a masters in Chemistry and is now a supervisor for a healthcare company (I had to Google her). Our salutatorian is an investment banker (and a FB friend).

And our homecoming queen is still beautiful 20+ years later.

[maiaann]

I graduated valedictorian of my HS class - I went on to become a microbiologist. DH was also the valedictorian of his HS class - he's an aerospace engineer.

[bigpassport]

I don't recall who the valedictorian of our class was! It seems to me there was more than one.

[DietCokeLover]

Ours became one of the leading neurosurgeons in the country.

[Indianamom2]

I got my degree in music education and then found my passion as a SAHM. :love-retry:

Dh is an estate planning/tax attorney for a large firm.

We are two first-born, type A, stereotypical over-achievers!

I was more a leader-type in HS, but Dh was more in the background. He doesn't particularly care for the spotlight.

[Globetrotter]

Ours is an attorney.

[ett]

That would be me. I was a computer engineer for 5 years and am now a SAHM.

[Katigre]

That would be me ;). I'm happy with where I ended up in life - I got a degree that fit who I am, jobs that are a good match for my skills, a good spouse and kids in the timeframe I desired to acheive that. I knew where I wanted to go in life early on in college and that's served me well in my life since.

[mmommy]

I have NO idea. I don't even know who it was, and I don't think I ever did know...
Was I supposed to care?:ROTFLMAO:

[golightly1118]

We had three. All three went to Rice for their undergrad. Two got degrees in chemical engineering, got married (after dating for most of high school) and went on to work for Chevron-she is now a SAHM. The third got a degree in music, then went on to get a masters and PhD in music from Yale and is working as an organist and church musical director in DC. OT, but funny-I reconnected with the two engineers on FB and was chatting with him a while back. He noted that, since I was the girl he last went out with before getting together with his wife, I'm technically his ex. Considering we went out our freshman year when we were 14, we both got a laugh out of that!

[indigo99]

Ours is currently a stay-at-home-mom with her own photography business (although I haven't been able to work full time since I got pregnant with DS). I was hoping to be able to work more now that he's getting older, but I'm pregnant with #2 so I'm looking for more portrait work. Weddings are just way too difficult when pregnant.

I didn't go to our HS reunion. I know that it would make a lot of other people feel good to compare themselves to me and think that they've been more "successful". I actually got a ton of scholarships to all sorts of great schools. I went to one for a week and ended up back home going to our state university. I'm so glad that I did though. Otherwise, I would have missed those years with my family. I graduated from HS in '94 and lost the two most important people in my life in '99 (grandmother) and '01 (mother). Now I am very happily married with a beautiful baby and another on the way.

ETA: No wonder this is such a great board. Look at all the valedictorians we have! :) I wasn't really a "leader" though. I was very quiet and just did really well in academics.

[AnnieW625]

This is awesome! Congrats to all of the valedictorians out there!

Elektra, that is soo funny about the girl you knew from high school and the In & Out. The kids who work at ours seem so well mannered and well rounded. I am never going to be able to look at them the same way. He he. From what I understand In & Out pays their people very well.

[american_mama]

My public high school (graduating class of 200) seems unusual in that it did not announce a valedictorian or salutarian, but everyone knew who was ranked first and second in the class. That *is* the criteria for valedictorian, isn't it? The #1 ranked student was not a tremendous eader, but a multi-talented guy, good at every subject, quick wit, interesting. He went to an elite professional music school, then transferred to Harvard and eventually became a sociology professor at Harvard. I find his research subjects super interesting and accessible, and he seems very successful at getting media attention for them.

[american_mama]

>> I was it and I'm a nursing coordinator. Very small class though-30 maybe? in Jamaica

Go Margaret! How awesome! I knew you'd lived outside the US, but didn;t know Jamaica was one of the places.

[american_mama]

>> Statistician, then line manager, then project manager. SAHM for 8 years then a statistician for the federal government. That would be me.

Go Beth! Seriously, I am excited reading about our two valedictorian stars (maybe there are more coming in other posts?) Yes, I care about who was valedictorian because I really respect the work it takes to be ranked first in your class.


eta: Wow, read all the posts and so many valedictorians here on the board! I am so impressed!

[crl]

I have NO idea. I don't even know who it was, and I don't think I ever did know...
Was I supposed to care?:ROTFLMAO:

:yeahthat:

Catherine

ETA: I didn't mean to denigrate the hard work it takes. I just wasn't very interested in high school in general. I can't name the homecoming or prom queen or king nor the captain of the football team, nor the student body president, well, you get the idea.

[fumofu]

L is one of my best friends from our class of 48. She works for Visa as a financial planner. DH is his class's valedictorian of 360 students. He's a software manager.

[goldenpig]

I was the valedictorian too, and I'm a doctor (congrats to all the other valedictorians--I knew BBB'ers are a smart bunch ;)).

[JoyNChrist]

It was me, and I'm a mommy and part-time photographer. :)

My degree is in education though, if I ever decide to go back to it. Nothing fancy.

[megs4413]

Last I checked, she was a research assistant and still pursuing an advanced degree in something or another.

of our top 10 (i went to a really big school), 5 are still in school (i'm 27).

[kozachka]

We don't have valedictorians where I studied in high school, but there were several (7 or 8) people with 5.0 out of 5.0 grade point average. I only know what happened to my classmate and I - we both ended up getting MBAs from top business schools in US and working in management consulting in a Top 3 firm. I also worked in investment banking doing M&A and he in private equity. And we both live in CA, very close to each other, although he spends most of his time outside of the country. Right now both have good paying corporate jobs.

The other girl from our class with a 5.0 GPA got into medical school upon graduation, she was not as naturally bright as us and got her grades through memorization/working harder and mostly thanks to her better off parents. Don't know what happened to her after that. She is not on our version of Classmates or Facebook as far as I know.

[MontrealMum]

I just wanted to step back into this thread because there seems to be sort of an assumption that leaders are popular and social, and that valedictorians are smart, geeky, and maybe not so good at the social stuff. I went to a gifted and talented school, one of the first in my state (MI). It's now an IBE. I graduated in a class of 54. There was no football hero (though a number of our guys played on their home schools' teams, we had no sports teams of our own) and there was no homecoming queen. We did have a prom queen and king, but I have no earthly idea who they were at this point.

Some of the many valedictorians in my class were class leaders (1 class president, 1 city-wide rep, 1 yearbook editor - that's just in Sr. year), and some were not, at least, not as visibly. But we all had to have confidence and social skills because our school did not have a sports program (and yeah, geeks do participate in sports), or much of an arts program, and also sent us all out into the community at large for Jr. and Sr. year to do internships as well as our yearly required volunteer hours. In addition, a good chunk of us took classes at the local community college with students 2-4 years our senior when our own school just couldn't keep up.

What's my point? I think that brains can largely be attributed to genetics. School success? That's another thing entirely. But I also think that the ability to lead is not due necessarily to popularity, or to one's "position" in highschool. It has to do both with skill, as well as self-confidence. And throw a 15 year old kid into 2nd chair violin of the local symphony orchestra and they're going to develop that. And hold onto those skills for life. Every single kid in my graduating class finished a 4-year college degree. From what I can tell, because we're all friends on FB, they're all gainfully employed. Many are in positions of leadership, which may or may not have been indicated by highschool popularity. My feeling is that they have not been.

I think that SSTE's thread about leadership in preschool is downright scary. My DS is very vocal and fairly popular (to the surprise of his parents, who were not). But I'd be very upset if he was tagged at this age as a potential "leader" based solely on being vocal and popular.

[nellonello]

Got two Masters at MIT and is a stay at home mom.

[lalasmama]

We had 4 "class speakers" and no actual valedictorian. The 4 speakers had the highest GPAs, all tied. I only remember one of them, and she dropped out of college during her first semester, had 3 kids I believe, and last I spoke to her, she was a SAHM. I should preface that by saying she had her first baby the week of HS graduation, had the highest GPA, but the fuddy-duddies thought it wouldn't be appropriate for her to speak as "valedictorian", as she would either be hugely pregnant, or a brand new mom (which is what happened).

[jk3]

Our high school did not have one nor did it have class rankings. It was extremely competitive and about a third of our class went to an Ivy. I did not. :)

[LBW]

WAH as an executive editor in educational publishing and is the mom of three crazy boys!

[TwinFoxes]

We had a bunch. Most of them I don't know what they're doing. I know one is a went to Harvard undergrad, and is now a physician. Oh, one went to college with me, I forgot about him. He did a lot of drugs, and basically went off the deep end. But looking back now, I think maybe he was bipolar.


Ours became one of the leading neurosurgeons in the country.

Please say it was Sanjay Gupta!

[MoJo]

Valedictorian is in IS at Stanford. Salutatorian is a high school social studies teacher in Chicago. I'm FB friends with both of them, because I was in a lot of classes with both of them for four years.

#3 is (or was) a professor at Columbia.

I was #4 in a class of over 400. I'm the "disappointing" one who went to the state university fairly close to home. I'm now a part time office administrator and full time mom. Several of us had GPAs over 4.0 because our school "weighted" AP classes to be worth 5 points. Before they did that, GPA mattered so much that some students were taking easier classes to get the "A" and hurt their GPAs by trying the harder classes.

At the time, it was a huge deal. None of us were the super-popular kids, but we were all active in a wide variety of student groups, and perhaps I was more active in a wider variety even though I was also voted the "quietest" in our class.

I'm not at all surprised to see how many valedictorians we have here on the BBB! I knew this was a really smart group to hang out with!

[KHF]

Our valedictorian is a SAHM.

[sewarsh]

I honestly have NO recollection of who are valedictorian was so I can't answer that question.

[tamie]

I think she is a CPA but currently a SAHM.

MIne too!

[hellokitty]

The one I graduated with is some sort of entrepreneur, I'm not sure what kind though. Of the other valedictorians I know are:

Neurosurgeon-male
Dermatologist-male
Several other doctors-male & female
Material science engineer-male
Polymer science engineer-male
College drop out-female & male
Has a BS in graphic design, but can't find a job- female
Something to do with rocket science- male

Yeah, I know a freakishly large # of vaedictorians.

[jenmcadams]

We had two valedictorians -- one went to Cal and majored in engineering and the other went to Cal Poly SLO and is a CPA. I was one of two salutatorians and I went to a top 10 liberal arts school, top business school and was a management consultant and then worked for tech start-ups before I became a SAHM. The other salutatorian dropped out of Tufts after two weeks, moved home and married her high school sweetheart. She got divorced a few years later, finally finished up her BA at a local college and is in her first year of law school. Of all 4 of us, the guy who went to Cal was heads and shoulders smarter than the rest of us. The girl who dropped out and only recently started law school was right up there too (she took some incredibly hard independent studies that hurt her GPA). The CPA dude and I were both more your typical high achiever types who did sports, student govt, etc. and worked hard, but weren't as intrinsically bright.

[sste]

Ours went to harvard and became a physician (academic physician, I think, so he does research).

I will soon find out more because my 20th reunion is coming up in a year!

[scriptkitten]

she got pregnant and married straight out of HS. i don't even think she went to college.

my high school doesn't have a good track record with valedictorians…. or most of the other graduates.

[BabyBearsMom]

He is a music teacher.

[bostonsmama]

I don't follow the guy, but the Salutatorian is successful in some marketing company and travels to Italy a lot. Not married or with kids (woman).

[tarahsolazy]

I just had my 20 year reunion last weekend, so I just talked to him!

He is a civil engineer.

the #2 person became an RN

I went to a small rural school (90 kids in my class), and no one went to Ivys.

I was #3 and am the most traditionally successful: MD, MPH, academic physician

DH was the valedictorian of his class, he's an MD now SAHD.

[kristenk]

I'm amazed that so many people had multiple valedictorians. We weren't graded on a 4.0 scale. If the average of all of your class work was 93, you received a grade of 93 on your report card. There was only one valedictorian and I'm fairly confident that if two people shared the highest GPA the school would just keep going out decimal points to see whose was actually higher!

With that said, I don't know what our valedictorian or salutatorian are doing now. I've tried to google/facebook and can't find them. It looks like the salutatorian became a CPA and VP of a couple of different companies, but was involved in questionable business practices and fraud. Still trying to google more and figure out if I found the right person or not.

[smiles33]

I'm amazed that so many people had multiple valedictorians. We weren't graded on a 4.0 scale. If the average of all of your class work was 93, you received a grade of 93 on your report card. There was only one valedictorian and I'm fairly confident that if two people shared the highest GPA the school would just keep going out decimal points to see whose was actually higher!

My high school included extra points for AP classes so all 3 of our valedictorians were over 4.0. I can't recall the reasoning for having 3. I do know we had 17 National Merit Finalists (including me!) but most of us were under 4.0 GPA. So it's possible they gave the valedictorian honors to anyone over a 4.0.

[kristenk]

My high school included extra points for AP classes so all 3 of our valedictorians were over 4.0. I can't recall the reasoning for having 3. I do know we had 17 National Merit Finalists (including me!) but most of us were under 4.0 GPA. So it's possible they gave the valedictorian honors to anyone over a 4.0.

I don't remember the exact specifics, but I know the GPA calculated to determine class rankings was not a straight average. Extra points were given for honors classes taken (no AP at my school) and maybe something else. I guess my high school's definition was that the valedictorian is *the* student with the highest (modified) GPA. The second highest was the salutatorian and that was it. Others could graduate with honors or high honors, but only one valedictorian.

It's so interesting to hear about how different schools do things.

[mackmama]

A lawyer I believe

[boolady]

I have no idea. She spent most of her time in high school letting everyone know how much smarter she thought she was than the rest of us, then complaining to the guidance counselor that no one wanted to be her friend.

[GaPeach_in_Ca]

Our valedictorian went to UPenn and then UChicago business school and is in i-banking. I think she did just what she set out to do! Good for her. :)

[smilequeen]

Ours is an MD. Like about a third of my HS class I think :)

[BabbyO]

I think ours went on to be a Journalist out east...which is what he wanted to do.

I don't really see or communicate with anyone from HS anymore unless they are related (as in my siblings and some cousins). Ok...that's a lie...I have one friend that I still see 1-2x a year from HS. Guess its time to give her a call! :)

[vonfirmath]

Working for the UN the last i heard.

[cchavez]

I was the valedictorian of my very small class....I think I graduated with about 25 kids. I have a M.A. in Speech Language Pathology. I contract 2 days a month and am a SAHM the rest of the time. :) One of my best friends was the valedictorian for the class that graduated a year ahead of me, she is a comptroller for a small oil company. She has an accounting degree. The valedictorian that graduated in the class after me is an engineer so I think we all did pretty good for small town kids. :)

[longtallsally05]

Not sure b/c she wasn't at our 20 year reunion, but I heard that she went ape$h!t at college (lots of :54: & boys) and flunked out after her first year. I was surprised, but not terribly. She had grown up in a very quiet home with LOTS of structure; college was the first chance she had to cut loose. We graduated with about 200 people in our class.