Clubs & Sports, the Real Deal
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Mike Powell, Getty Images
Cheerleading
The Image: Cheerleading could be one of the most classic American high school activities there is. From cheerleaders who save the world to 'Bring It On,' they're portrayed as the girls who are popular, pretty and date all the cool guys.
The Real Deal: OK -- so lots of cheerleaders are popular, pretty, and date the cool guys. But cheerleading also takes serious dedication & athleticism, like any sport -- and some ARE guys. And not all cheerleaders are 'Mean Girls.' -
Soccer & Team Sports
The Image: Soccer players are passionate athletes who love the game, have hot bodies (cough David Beckham) and look sexy while running in driving rain and muddy fields.
The Real Deal: Soccer players have hot bodies -- like David Beckham's -- and look sexy while running in driving rain and muddy fields. They work hard, and are pretty global in playing the world's sport. -
Chess Club
The Image: Move piece. Pause. Watch opponent move piece. Pause. Think. Move piece. Yes -- this is how we imagine chess club going.
The Real Deal: Real chess clubs and teams play to win, and playing demands intense concentration, solid strategizing and heavy analysis. In recent college competitions, smaller schools have started to take over the Ivies as chess kings & queens. Take THAT, nerds! -
Film Club
The Image: Sitting in the dark, philosophizing on what Godard really meant with that sudden ending, or why 'American Pie' isn't on school curricula everywhere. Film geeks are the hyper-analytical, the pasty people who don't see the light of day, and are just self-consumed.
The Real Deal: Let's see ... Coppola, Spielberg -- those are a few film school geeks. So now that you know that dorky guy in the film club might one day become a powerful Hollywood producer, it might be time to reconsider joining. -
Universal
Math Club
The Image: Do we even need to say it? Kids who like math so much that they'd join a CLUB to do it (um -- that would be mathletes) are just ridiculed.
The Real Deal: Math team was good enough for Gab in 'High School Musical,' and eventually good enough for Lindsay Lohan's character in 'Mean Girls.' These girls are smart, sexy and aren't afraid to show it off. -
Marching Band
The Image: We know, we know. Starting with 'This one time, in band camp ...' and moving on to the image of dorky kids who play second fiddle to the football team, marching bands do not have great reps.
The Real Deal: Justin Timblerlake. Rihanna. Pete Wentz: Let's face it, musicians are sexy. And musicians who can walk and play at the same time? Hot AND talented. -
Drama Club
The Image: Or shall we say, 'thee-aw-ter?' Yes, theater kids get the lame tag because they're known for taking themselves seriously, needing loads of attention and their overall unbearable pretentiousness.
The Real Deal: Orlando Bloom went to theater school. OK -- so maybe it didn't actually help with his acting, but the heartthrob of the Caribbean wasn't too cool to do theater. And neither are you. -
Football
The Image: Similar to the cheerleaders, football players occupy that special place in Americana known as 'golden boys.' Portrayed as athletic, sexy and popular, these guys always get the hot girls, go to all the parties, and generally, high school is good to them.
The Real Deal: They work hard to get where they are, take the tumbles and deal with the pressure of the spotlight. Not to mention that they get underestimated as dumb jocks. Awww. At least they can build up their egos at all the parties they go to. -
Computer Club
The Image: A vestige of the pre-Microsoft era, computer geeks sadly still bear a residual reputation that implies pocket protectors, big, thick glasses and every other nerdy accoutrement you can think of.
The Real Deal: Welcome to 2007. Not only do geeks get their own clothing style ('geek chic'), a branded business ('the geek squad'), but they're also known as creative, well-paid and -- dare we say it? -- cool. -
School Paper
The Image: Anyone remember Andrea from '90210'? No? that's because she was the school paper nerd that no one wanted to date. Student journos are considered to be glasses-wearing geeks with no lives -- thus their ability to work day and night to bring you the news.
The Real Deal: Forget about the fact that real-life journalists and writers are sexy (ahem, Anderson Cooper) -- the aspiring ones in school are actually at the center of what's happening. -
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