As of March 3rd, votes for senior superlatives are in, and seniors wait for the yearbook to see who’s crowned “Most Likely To….” or “Future…” since February 8. In the meantime, seniors have been competing, placing their nominations and votes against their peers, leading campaigns to be bestowed the worthy title– a chance to gain lasting notoriety to look back on.
While superlatives are a fun way to commemorate the graduating class, there’s been some controversy regarding its presence– are senior superlatives actually fair and indicative of the graduating class, or are they just popularity contests dominated by huge friend groups inflating the votes, spiking results for certain nominees to win?
Every school has their own way of celebrating senior superlatives to reflect the moment of their graduating class. Currently, there are people in the running for the classic superlative titles, typical for most yearbooks, such as “Most Changed Since Freshman Year,” “Class Clown,” “Cutest Couple,” “Life of the Party,” and some are more unique to North Hollywood High School, such as “Most Likely To Be A Noho Teacher” and “Most Husky Spirit.”
Senior superlatives in yearbooks date back to the 1950s as a way to honor students– recognizing accomplishments of the graduating class. It’s an exciting way to observe your peers, but some argue that they’re outdated, evidently pigeon-holing and stereotyping students into a seemingly arbitrary, random title.
While the categories seem to confine students based on apparent attributes that presumably seem to be fitting, the superlative page’s ultimate purpose serves as a time capsule where seniors want to celebrate their peers they’ve known throughout the years.
Ms. Hill, the yearbook teacher and advisor these past two years– supervising the yearbook production and its content, was initially against the inclusion of yearbooks, rather favoring a more journalistic approach.
She comments, “Getting rid of things like ‘Best Hair’ and ‘Best Smile,’ and trying to make it more kind of fun, more diverse with categories like most mysterious and like ‘Most likely to win a Nobel Prize’,” noting the superficial quality of past, traditional superlative categories.
It wasn’t until the students advocated for the inclusion of superlatives that it made the yearbook. North Hollywood’s yearbook staff successfully challenged the traditional, tired approach to senior superlatives with the inclusion of quirkier categories such as, “Most Likely To Go to Outer Space,” “Most Likely To Become A Reality Star,” “Future Nobel Prize Winner,” focusing on merit and personal characteristics, rather than physical attributes. For instance, “Best Dressed” has been replaced with “Most Likely To Be A Fashion Designer,” – challenging students to think more creatively about their peers, rather than surface level.
Ms. Hill adds, “There’s more diverse winners, and you keep classic ones, like ‘Most School Spirit,’ but then when you add in the kind of different ones that open up to a different range of people, it makes for more interesting and diverse kinds of winners,” promoting creativity within senior superlatives categories.
Casting votes for senior superlatives has also raised concern about it being a glorified popularity contest. Students seem to be only voting for their peers that are well-known, actively campaigning, or even large friend groups voting within in– which doesn’t give other nominees a fair chance. Campaigning is actively encouraged, but some feel that they don’t have a fair shot at winning when they’re not backed up by a large amount of guaranteed support by the student body.
The senior superlatives should be representative of the student body, a title that should be bestowed based on one’s true characteristics. Katherine Guardado, 12th grade, the Sales and Marketing Manager of the yearbook, remarks, “They might deserve the title, but that’s really up to the student population to decide, because it’s up to us we want to see and who we want to win, and not really up to them, but if they want to campaign for themselves, I encourage it,” when asked about her thoughts on campaigning, commenting that it provides variety in elections.
Guardado also states, “Seniors get to feel recognized even if they don’t get recognized in other places, like prom,” continuing, “I think senior superlatives just gives us more of a way to connect with more students, because it is a whole bunch of categories,” unifying the graduating class as it provides common ground and participation amongst their peers.
Senior superlatives are a staple of most high school yearbooks, and its lack of inclusion would stray away from an event that engages the graduating student body. The yearbook staff addresses the controversy of past superlatives by dismantling ones that perpetuate rigid thinking, allowing students to think outside of the box when considering their peers
It’s an interesting way to gather the graduating class of students, and while the competitive nature of superlatives can sour the experience, there’s a certain finality and closure in the high school experience that celebrates the special qualities of our peers and that can be viewed with nostalgia past graduation, cementing a high school legacy.
