Who you are now and who you were back in school are two totally separate people… probably. But let’s be real here for a second: class reunions can be super stressful, no matter how successful you are right now. There’s always this low-key anxiety that you haven’t lived up to your potential and that others might see you as who you were way back then, not the adult you’ve become now. Or worse, that you somehow peaked back then and it’s all been downhill from there.
We’ve collected some of the most powerful real-life stories about the biggest transformations, good and bad, that people have seen during their school reunions, as shared on r/AskReddit. It just goes to show that nobody’s future is truly set in stone. And the trajectory you’re on in high school can change drastically. Upvote the stories that impressed you the most, and let us know how your recent reunions went in the comments, dear Pandas.
When you’re done reading through this list, you might want to consider checking out Bored Panda’s earlier article about the worst school reunion stories—it’s proof that a bit of awkwardness is really nothing to worry about in comparison.
Bored Panda reached out to Lisa McLendon, the William Allen White Professor of Journalism and Mass Communications and the Coordinator at the Bremner Editing Center at the University of Kansas, to get her perspective about staying in touch with former students, and supporting them whether they're still studying or when they've graduated. You'll find her thoughts as you scroll down, dear Pandas.
#21
There was a girl in my class who was not comfortable in her body. She acted like a boy, talked like a boy, and always wanted to do boy things. She got made fun of. A lot. Meanly. Kids are a**holes.
I went to elementary through 12th with her, so I knew her for a long time. I'd call her my friend, mostly because we were always nice to each other, but we never saw each other out of school.
10-year comes and now he's living life as a man. Not everyone from my podunk little school saw this as a good thing (mostly the ones who still live in our home town), but most of us were happy for him.
He's on Facebook now (my 10-year was just as Facebook was spilling into the masses) and is confident and is a regular person, comfortable in his skin. Just living life.
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253points
#22
Definitely the smelly kid. He wasn't actually smelly, but the routine beatings and teasing definitely took the toll on this guy. He was just...non-functionally weird.
He apparently blossomed in college and ended up in law school. He became a lawyer for abused women, doing orders of protection and whatnot. He said his motivation was to stand up to bullies, so that no one had to endure what he did.
The next year I got laid off due to budget cuts and opened up my own law firm, which failed. My life's back to being in the s**tter, but the reunion stands out as my high water mark.
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245points
#23
A dude that I saw drop acid in class on multiple occasions had become a youth preacher. The girl voted best looking had become a chain-smoking drunk who had somehow aged 30 years in a decade. The goth girl that I would sometimes smoke weed and talk about John Waters movies with had become some kind of Stepford wife.
A lot of people seemed genuinely shocked that I hadn't been stabbed to death in a back alley somewhere. Never realized I had such a reputation in high school :S
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219points
#24
Hot girl who made fun of fat girls was 300 lbs easy.
218points
#25
Two [passed away], one became disabled after a car accident, a couple of them came out as gay, one became a super successful entrepreneur and HEAPS got really fat.
Meanwhile, I got a haircut.
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217points
#26
I knew guy who failed all his math courses and had me tutor him in math then he became a mathematician guess I was a great teacher
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217points
#27
It's only been 5 years since I graduated and one of the girls in my class is a freaking rocket engineer. Working for nasa.
Like what. She used to cry about that douchebag she was dating. We did yoga in PE and talked about stupid highschool girl things.
And to think if I'd actually seriously applied myself It would have been possible for me too. good on her.
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214points
#28
The most popular and best-looking girl (biggest b***h, really) in my class weighed about 220 and was pregnant with kid #5. From head cheerleader on her way to UW, to college dropout stay-at-home mom. I probably *could* have enjoyed seeing that more, but I'm not sure how off the top of my head.
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206points
#29
One girl I went to high school with is now a guy I went to high school with. It's an all girls school.
191points
#30
Skinny nerdy guy got busted for selling a couple hundred thousand dollars worth of adobe software in college and spent 15 months in prison. He came out super buff.
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154points