I scored the highest tertiary entrance rank in my school without studying a day in my life and had my pick of any university course or career. I went to university, and excelled at exams, but because I had undiagnosed ADHD and had never learned time management, I couldn't cope with assignments that couldn't be thrown together at the last minute in my lunch break. I was academically excluded.

So there was that. Basically, my life has continued to look like some variation of that experience since then :P

He worked as a chemical engineer until he was killed by police over non-existant drugs. None of the officers involved got into any trouble.

No idea, I moved away and moved on. Have a great life. Don’t care what the others are doing. Hope they’re well.

I'm still here.

Kidding! How do you determine who the smartest kid was?

Works in open source charity driven software - he's having a ball.

I gradually, but absolutely fell the fuck apart after middle/high school. I'm working with a therapist and job coaches so I can get my shit reasonably back together. As it turns out, Gifted kids are most likely just neurodivergent kids who would really like someone to see them as something other than test scores and probably are smiling through a bunch of unaddressed problems. I hope the other TAG kids from my year are doing way better.

I mean we had a few that were al up there. From what I recall Jamie dropped out and had a couple of kids, Mark still lives at home 'cause he's got no job and Just plays guitar and smokes a lot of pot. Jay committed suicide. Brandon OD'd and died.

OD'd

it's reading lemmy right now :p

It was me. I was the smartest kid in my class for most of school. Then I dropped out of college and now I fix cars for a living.

Not saying that's a bad thing, the world needs mechanics and I'm paid well enough to live, but the sense of lost or wasted potential is overwhelming.

Everyone left. There’s nothing the state can offer to keep the most productive people. Most ended up going to California.

The ones that returned became educators.

From high school: went to an ivy league, coasted with Bs and Cs, has a high paying job in NYC in finance. Saw on insta that he privately booked out a bar in Manhattan for his birthday, so I guess he's doing good. From college: Currently over-employeed, married, owns a house in the inner suburbs, expecting first child. My life is pretty great, could be better, could be worse.

He got a degree in architectural design and now tours the country playing the fiddle. He could have been anything he wanted and that's the life he chose, but I respect him for it. He's happy and that's what really counts.

I got a job as a software engineer and I live in one of the major cities in the US pretty comfortably.

(I was high school valedictorian, objectively average in college, and am maybe the high end of average in my career. My high school set a pretty low bar.)

He became addicted to drugs and fell off. Last time i heard anything off him, he lives in south america somewhere as a street performer and found love. So i dunno.

She is currently a doctor, married, has a kid, and is doing quite well for herself.

Honestly don’t know. In grade school we had a classmate who was always at the top of our entire batch. As expected she graduated as valedictorian. We all took the entrance exam for one of the coveted high schools and surprisingly she didn’t pass…and I got in lol. She kinda faded away after that. She’s probably fine though, just didn’t meet expectations going into high school.

She was killed in a traffic accident senior year.

I went on to enlist in the military, got out after one enlistment, and eventually became a machinist and shipwright welder. I'm working on my SCUBA & underwater welding qualifications.

In a high-school out in the boondocks of Texas, I was easily the smartest kid. Everyone else was concerned with their parents farm, chores, football, and dating.

Nobody was interested in reading or higher education, and the teachers put no effort into encouraging students to reach higher.

Looks like he's a Ph.D bridge engineer. Good on him.

Which class? we had different students depending on the subject.

He went on to become an internationally renowned heart surgeon

As far as my knowledge goes, she went to a private school then got pregnant with, like, 20 or 19-ish. Then she did lose a little control of her life. But I think that she might've been successful with her career and may have gotten her life under control.

I don't know if she was the smartest kid, but she definitely got good grades. My class was honestly full of lazy people, including me. I've changed a lot, so I would say that I would now be the smartest kid, because I was one of the first who actually did realize how tough life is.

In my class/homeroom? I'm sitting on the couch. Just trying not to let life get me down. In my grade? Fuck if I know. I did know like the top 5 in my grade, of 600+ students, but I didn't keep in touch once we went off to college. At least 2 went to Ivy League schools for undergrad. Don't know about the other 3.

They got a PhD in science from a well-known university and worked on research for a while. Last I heard, they got married and ended up selling real-estate.

I have no idea. I've only kept up with 4 or 5 people from high school.

She was my coworker, but I left her when I moved.

One became a high school teacher and another works in tech. Not too shocking I guess

GCHQ. Need I say more...