For the first time in nearly five years, AHS seniors will be immortalized in The Antenna not just by their senior quotes, but also by what their classmates think of them most.
Senior superlatives have returned to the yearbook, a decision that was largely driven by student demand.
“When deciding to include senior superlatives, I talked to editors and seniors about what they would like to see in their book,” English teacher and Antenna advisor Kylie Vera said. “There was a lot of feedback to include senior superlatives or more of students’ authentic voices within the book.”
Working from older Antenna volumes as a reference point, the staff compiled a provisional list of categories before expanding on them. They focused on ones that were future-oriented, social or academic in nature, making sure to leave out anything based on beauty or material access like “Best Car” so that any student, regardless of background, could theoretically win.
“All of our superlatives have assumed positive intent and wanted to highlight the best that AHS has to offer,” Vera said. “We worked intentionally to make sure they only highlighted positive qualities that students will want to be remembered for.”
While Vera has final say on the categories among the yearbook staff, administration will review the finalized list before it goes to print. They include superlatives such as “Best Smile,” “Most Nonchalant” and “Best Duo/Trio.”
The nomination form was open for three weeks–two for initial submissions
and one for final voting–and received 90 responses in the first round alone. Rather than publicly announcing the winners, the yearbook staff have been reaching out individually to students who received the most votes and giving them the option to either accept or decline the nomination.
This decision to bring back superlatives was not easy. One of the biggest issues with superlatives is that they can be controversial. Superlatives have even been cut from the Antenna previously when problems arose in the voting process.
“They’re a popularity contest and can cause hurt feelings,” English teacher and former Antenna advisor Julia Hanneman said. “If you’re not careful, they can also be used to make fun of or harshly judge people [with] more obscure categories like ‘most likely to drop out.’”
During her tenure, superlative categories were kept strictly personality-based and positive, eventually even expanding them to include students from the Cat-B program. However, the challenge of keeping them fair is almost impossible to overcome fully.
“I think they’re a cool and creative way to learn about our seniors,” senior Lidya Teklebirhan said. “But sometimes it’s not representative of the whole class [and] it’s a certain group of people that’s constantly shown. So what makes a superlative work, and what makes it fail? The parameters are clearer than what they might seem. They cannot be demeaning and they cannot be based on appearance or wealth, but what they can be is personal.
“I think a really good superlative would definitely be who has the coolest or most niche hobby,” senior Hannah Tran said. These types of categories give everyone a fair shot at winning regardless of background or social standing, and being personal is exactly the point. The best superlatives are ones that capture something specific and undeniable about a person. For Tran, that is an easy one.
“I think I’d win most purple,” Tran said. “I breathe and live purple. Everything I have is purple.”
In fact, the color has become so synonymous with her that her peers probably could not picture her any other way, which is precisely what a good superlative should do.
Despite sparking both celebration and debate, senior superlatives will be in the Antenna and students can purchase a copy for $95 on Yearbook Forever.
