Tuesday, January 13, 2009

High School Lunch Room


I'm halfway through my second week of substitute teaching. I agreed to do a two week assignment at my old school for a teacher who had back surgery. Its been very enlightening. I love to teach. Maybe I just love to be the center of attention . . . hmmm.

But today, as I was on lunch room duty, I was reminded in a rush of nostalgia (perhaps we could come up with a word with more negative connotations) of what high school tables meant. I scanned the clusters of heads and saw the easy distinctions. The table for athletes. The table for math kids. The table for the "trouble" kids. The table for the kids in wheelchairs. The table for the pretty girls. The table for the sporty girls. The table for kids who couldn't possibly be still in high school. . . The tables predominately for kids with darker skin. The table for theater kids.

So my question is, which table did you sit at in high school? And do you still hang out with people who would fit in that table today?

13 comments:

crystal said...

My high school experience in the U.S. was only 1.45 years long . . . but I sat by myself a lot. Or at the "table for smart kids who don't have a lot of personality." :) I didn't really fit in till college. I'd say my friendships are the richest with people who would have sat at very different tables than me in high school. . . my thoughts

Brook said...

I sat at the table with the kids in swing choir. We had about 10 minutes to eat, so there wasn't time to even look at the other tables and hope to sit elsewhere, or be prideful about where I was sitting.

Anonymous said...

I never stayed in school over lunch. Christina broke me out while I was too young to drive and as soon as I had my license I used it as an open period with all of its open campus privileges.
Melissa

lori taylor said...

I always took my lunch outside (we were in San Diego then) and ate with the 'wild eyed radicals' from the youth group. We plotted and dreamed and had great conversations. Yeah, flirting happened too.

Mike Janssen said...

I sat at the table with the nerds/dorks. I would probably still sit with them. :)

House of Rung said...

Senior year I spent most of my lunches off campus with Tyson & Carissa (I think I still hang out with them) and some other kids and in my memories we almost always went to Runza and Carissa would order a kids meal with mini corn dogs...

Miriam said...

When we ate lunch I sat at the theatre/artsy kid table. Sometimes we'd skip lunch and hang out in the hallway playing games or reading poetry (sooooo lame!). I'd say now my friendships are very eclectic.

Anonymous said...

I actually don't remember much about high school lunches(thank you, Jesus)... hmmm... maybe that means I was with the stoners in the parking lot by the tennis courts...

Sarah M said...

I actually ditched lunch all the time.
whoops

Mark & Katie said...

Didn't quite fit in one category in high school. Was in between the "popular" kids, "jocks", "nerds", etc. I was friends with a lot of people but not close to many. Was MUCH happier in college when the barriers were lifted. I'd say my friendships now are with people from all over the board. SOOOOOOOO glad to be out of high school....

katie <><

Alyssa Spring Corley said...

Hmmm....we didn't have tables in highschool but in college I ate at the *mediocre* table....it was behind the athletes table.

ReneeWelstead said...

I can remember getting in two fights in the lunchroom, both included me throwing food on my friend Neil.

Anonymous said...

I didn't sit with the girls from the tennis team, and I didn't sit with the cheerleaders or popular, pretty girls. I had one best friend, and we usually ate lunch together. I still seem to do best with "one on one" relationships today.

Grandpa Gene sat with a group of male buddies, one of whom remained a life long friend. Dick McCormick passed away in Sun Lakes, AZ, just a few weeks ago.