I was an indifferent high school student. Getting good marks was not tolerated by the guys and would label you as a “suck hole”. So middle of the pack was best. I liked sciences , english and social studies but math was a drag . However I stumbled along. One quiet little guy in my class consistently got high marks. It turned out later that he cheated with sleeves full of cheat sheets. We all sneered. He became a pharmacist. The science teacher, a guy, liked boys and we all kept away from him. We called him the groper. Later he got caught in some indecent act. They moved him out of the classroom- guess where?- the school board office !
Things really came together in grade eleven and twelve. I was big and as my skills in sports improved, especially with rugby where I became the team captain. In track I found the shot put and discus events to my liking and later with the YMCA track team threw the hammer. In grade 11 and 12 I won the Victoria and district shot put and came second in the discus. There was no coaching so I tried to learn techniques from a book. I went to the Provincial championships but just managed fifth place. They other contestants cheated - they had coaches. !!
There were a couple of real trouble makers in the year ahead of me. They were in and out of trouble frequently and bullied the younger kids. They were often involved in fist fights. I had nothing to do with them but on one occasion one of them confronted me and challenged me for a fight for some reason. So I had never been in one but with my Pro Rec training wasn’t intimidated. I told him that it had to be outside the school property . At the appointed time my friend Doug and I showed up but he and his hangers on did not. Afterwards he avoided me. Doug said later that he was tipped off I was a tough fighter so he backed off . I was actually a bit disappointed.
The grades 11 and 12 went by relatively calmly. Dances occurred at intervals usually to mark some holiday event such as thanksgiving or Christmas. The guys strung out on one side of the gym and the gals in giggling and nervous clusters on the other side waiting for some groovy guy to ask them to dance. There were very few of them. The rest of us were clunks dead in the water. I “ danced” like a constipated bear. My favourite was the Farmers Frolic in the spring when we wore jeans and plaid shirts and leaped about like maniacs. There was some booze hidden away outside but penalties were severe if caught by one of the patrolling teachers.
In grade 12 I dated Joan the nippy little sprinter who was the first one who didn’t look at me as if I had come in on a low tide. I ended up taking her to my grad dance. More about her later. So we got our grad group pictures taken up on that age; were handed our grad diplomas and in June of 1949 I headed out in the world without the faintest idea what to do next .My marks were not the best but if you graduated from high school the you automatically could go to college. Thank goodness.
Lovely to read your stories and history