BOOK NOOK REVIEW

What Really Happened to the Class of '93?

June 18, 2009 at 4:02 p.m.

By Jill Williams

The author visited many of his former classmates on the verge of attending their 10-year high school reunion. More importantly, he allowed the classmates chosen to reveal what their high school experiences said about their lives at the time, and what those experiences have contributed to their lives today. For some, this was a chance to come clean and tell their side of the story. For others, it was the opportunity to showcase how they've applied themselves since. For all, though, it seems a few things are universal: who you are in high school does not dictate who you become as an adult, and high school is a very highly emotional time in the lives of young people.

No matter when you graduated from high school, some things are always the same: there are cliques, and sometimes your classmates can be unfairly harsh to one another. However, I think that other things can also be said: sometimes the best of friendships are forged in high school, and some of us even meet the love of our lives during that period. What seemed to be an undercurrent in each of the interviews no matter the clique the person belonged to, each person interviewed has grown and doesn't wish for their high school experience to be how they are identified in their adult life.

Take, for example, the girl who had a baby in her junior year of high school. Typically it's preached that a situation like this ruins one's life, equating it to "18 years of being grounded." This girl did not have that experience at all, though she chose to keep and raise her child. With supportive parents, she was able to complete her high school experience alongside her classmates and enter college with her child in tow. Now married, she contemplates adding more children to her family in the future. She wouldn't classify her stigma from high school as something that sums her up now.

In another example, a boy is severely punished for accidentally leaving his pellet gun in a buddy's truck, where it was found at school. The boys were nearly expelled, and throughout the rest of his high school years, the boy was ostracized as a dangerous boy: a gun nut. Simply enjoying owning and firing a gun does not make one dangerous or a gun nut, and this boy grew into a man who enjoys hunting. Should his high school experience follow him and further ostracize him? Of course not.

Each tale has its own twist, but all are familiar in some way or another. Some still carry hurt, some anger, others regret. Most admit those years helped make them who they are today, but do not define all they are. Each tale is interesting, and told in a poignant way. The reading is easy and entertaining, and I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys finding out what people do with their lives in the 10 years post high school graduation.