Graduation season is officially in full swing. If you are a high school graduate, I’m just curious, what do you remember from your ceremony? What you did after high school and in hindsight is there anything that you wish you had done differently.
© 2026 – SoulSequel
15 responses to “What did you after high school?”
I looked for work for awhile and then got hired on as a person at McDonalds, while I tried to get in better shape. Afterwards I ended up in bootcamp for 3 months 19 days.
Didn’t you go to college too? I guess that didn’t happen right after graduation.
No. That was 3 – 4 years later. I was unemployed for probably 9 months before I got a job at Steak ‘n’ Shake, was there for awhile, resigned because I thought I had another job, 9 months later I received a sales job at a siding place, which closed, then I worked jewel osco while i attended college, then transfered to Chicago for my 4 year university.
I remember sitting among 400 classmates and not wanting to be there. Given that I spent my junior and senior year at the local college taking classes in the afternoon, I never really knew anyone at the school.
There was some event that took place afterward. Eh. I dunno. They had pizza. And that is all (gender non-biased) wrote.
Done differently? Not go to college. I hated my first 2 years. Spaced out during my final 2. Worked at walmart for awhile. I think HVAC repair would have been good for me at the time while I figured things out.
What about you, JOY?
I remember my graduation pretty well. But the ceremony was long and about half way through we all wanted to leave. I didn’t want a graduation party. So my family just put together a dinner for my cousin and I, we graduated together and she didn’t want a party either.
After that…I continued going to the community college here, I too started a few classes during my junior/senior year. Then I thought…wtf. I don’t even like school. So I left college. I went to school to be a realtor and completed all of my required hours, but I never took the licensing test. Somewhere along the line I got pregnant. That’s where my “What did you do after high school?” story ends.
I think if I had gone away for school and gotten in journalism like I wanted to, my life would be vastly different. Even though things aren’t always perfect, I’m happy about where I am.
My family moved around a lot and my graduation was a non-event that I didn’t attend.
And afterwards I got a minimum wage job and bought a clunky old Duster for $1,000. It took me to University several years later, absolutely as far away from home as I could afford to drive! (About 1400 km away).
But the key point, was that it was an adventure! I still remember the giddy feeling of being out-and-about while school was in session. I played my fair share of hooky from school and it would still momentarily freeze my blood if I saw a truant officer!
And your adventure continues! You still get to drive off to faraway lands.
I don’t recall there ever being truant officers, but there was these older ladies who hung around the campus making sure we went to class. We called them (this isn’t very nice), NAGS. The Nags. Well, I was lucky one of the Nags went to my church because when she busted me smoking pot on campus, she told my priest; but she didn’t tell anyone at my school. Funny thing, the priest she told ended up getting excommunicated because he was caught with a box of money under his bed that turned out to be DRUG MONEY!!!
Maybe that was one of the differences between the Canadian and US education system? There were certainly truant officers where I grew up. There were “the regulars” you got to know on sight. But there were also those who just showed up at the video arcades and fishing holes who just didn’t fit in. They acted and moved like cops but were far better dressed than them. You could tell they were not there to play or to fish!
You didn’t stick around to see if your assumptions were justified or not. You just got the hell out of there. I suppose part of the thrill was knowing you were out of your element, being a school-aged kid “oot and aboot” on a school day. You existed on a combination of high-alert and the pretense that you didn’t care who saw you and were not on high-alert!
I got married, lived in a cabin in West Virginia, gave birth to my oldest son, lived in Germany for three years, came back in time to go to Woodstock. Then back to California. Got divorced. Became a nude dancer and topless cocktail waitress. I bought a house on my own, got married, started my first business, got divorced, remarried, went to collage while holding down a full time job in Quality Control Management and raising stepsons. My job was sent overseas. I started my own house cleaning business. Got divorced. Married again, went to collage with Criminal Law classes, became a paralegal, but still ran a house cleaning service. My husband died. I became a widow. I retired early, gave my business to my workers. Met Immortal Pirate and the rest is heaven on earth. Sold my house and moved to Arizona. That’s what I have done these 52 years after high school.
The summer after high school graduation I had a very important conversation with myself. I was sick of thinking I was a dweeb, which was constantly reinforced by knowing I was thought of as one, because I actually was one.
I figured as I started post secondary education that things were going to be different and if nothing else, I would act in a way that at least expressed that I thought of myself as something better.
It was strange. Right off the bat I got a new circle of friends at a new school that I seemed to be able to convince that I was worth hanging around with. That response reinforced my own inclination to actually start to believe it.
In the back of my mind I still wondered if I was just acting, or maybe this metamorphosis had actually taken place? This is called thinking too much. I had another conversation with myself that included the discussion about just going with it. I’ve been going with it ever since. Sure, I lapse from time to time, but over the long run, I’ve had enough to reinforce that I chose wisely.
Sounds like you boosted your self-esteem in your mind. How people look at us has so much to do with how we carry ourselves.
worked, continued drinking, got married.
then at 30 I decided I was an alcoholic and stopped.
had 2 kids a few years later.
still don’t drink
I am the most boring person ever.
Went to the beach for a week, got really drunk, and ran up a $500 bill for damages to the room because I thought firebreathing Everclear shots would be a good idea. It was. I regret nothing.
Immediately after graduation I went to dinner with my family, then hopped on a school bus to take the 2-hour drive to Disneyland. Grad Night at Disneyland is what all Cali kids did. We got there around 10:00pm and played at Disneyland until 5:00am. The whole place is high school grads from all over, and their chaperons. I remember a High School from Hawaii was there.
I took a lazy year off before I attended college. They call it a gap year now. I just wanted to work a little, and go to the beach whenever I wanted, which I did. I got a job at a home for children and adults with Cerebral Palsy. It was called the Cerebral Palsy and Spastic Children’s Foundation. Of course, the name has since been changed, since bullies ruined the name Spastic. I got to be outside with this job a lot. Playing kick ball with the kids who could catch a ball, swimming with the kids and playing Frisbee. There was this dude who didn’t have use of his legs, and he used these arm crutches. He was an amazing Frisbee player!
I went to college for a bit, then took a soccer (football) trip to New Zealand. I ended up staying in New Zealand for 7 months, and played with the best soccer players in the country. A man recruited me to stay and play there. Turns out he was the founder of women’s football in New Zealand. I probably learned more in my 7 months away from my family and home than I would have in a year of college.