School Photos Archives

Don’t Blink

“When my son had his school photo taken, he was terrified of blinking and having his eyes closed. He was also wearing his favorite Roadkill shirt because he felt that he looked especially handsome in it.”

(submitted by Sharon)

American Bandstand

They did it for the nookie.

(submitted by John)

Awkward Class Photo: Teacher’s Pets

One way to get closer with your students.

(submitted by Anony)

Awkward Drill Team

“Group photo of my H.S. Drill team. I am top left. I think the band director wanted us to be ‘avant-garde’ but- well, you can see the results. This was taken at a competition full of adorable pom and cheer girls who were busy vaselining their teeth and finding matching scrunchies. Our music was something by the Doobie Brothers and the soundtrack of Labyrinth. I kid you not, we were instructed to emulate amoeba at the beginning of our routine. Which included hula hoops.”

(submitted by Ingrid)

Superstar

“This is one of my 1988 dance recital portraits from The Dancer’s Studio in Dearborn, MI. I wasn’t like the rest of the ballerinas who had been studying dance since birth; I started late so I was put in the “teen beginners” jazz class. I was easily the worst dancer in the school; if you watch the recital video you can see me spinning in the wrong direction and knocking into people. Our teacher, Miss Maryann, picked our costumes and we danced to the song “Hourglass” by Sweet.

I was twelve years old and obviously at that stage where I had no idea what to do with my body. Everything was out of proportion; my glasses were too big, my tights were too big and I could never get my bangs right. I remember a friend at summer camp made me that friendship bracelet and I never took it off so it was really grungy.

The photographer posed us and for me there was really no other option than the jazz hands. I find it kind of amazing that this photo is now one of the top 5 image results when you google “jazz hands.” Like my extreme dorkiness has become a cultural meme. There’s an authenticity to that, dorkiness. There’s no pretense to dorkiness.”

(submitted by Adriana)