• silentdon@lemmy.world
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    6 months ago

    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.

  • QuarterSwede@lemmy.world
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    6 months ago

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

  • skulblaka@startrek.website
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    6 months ago

    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.

    • Addv4@lemmy.world
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      6 months ago

      I wouldn’t worry about it. I was one of the gifted kids, got my Bachelors then Masters in Computer Science with good grades. But also I got massively depressed and it took me a while to get a job after graduation. One of the more valuable lessons I learned from that experience was that I was often not seeing the forest thru the trees. After all, going to college is just a means of hopefully ensuring that you have an easier time covering the cost of living long term. So, overall, if you’re happy and don’t have to constantly worry about your bills there was no real loss of potential.

  • Brkdncr@lemmy.world
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    6 months ago

    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.

  • AdamEatsAss@lemmy.world
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    6 months ago

    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.

  • grasshopper_mouse@lemmy.world
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    6 months ago

    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.

  • BruceTwarzen@lemm.ee
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    6 months ago

    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.

  • Meltrax@lemmy.world
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    6 months ago

    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.)

  • That_Devil_Girl@lemmy.ml
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    6 months ago

    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.

  • edric@lemm.ee
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    6 months ago

    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.

    • /home/pineapplelover@lemm.ee
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      6 months ago

      Damn. That’s kinda why I’m not a fan of exams. People have test anxiety. In a lot of my math classes, some of the smartest people in there can’t take tests for shit because of so much test anxiety they have. This person probably had the qualifications to get in but unfortunate that the exam was too big of a hurdle.