This thread about quotes in yearbooks reminded me of those “most popular” elections.
Along with the senior quotes, the yearbook advisor and staff decided not to have the popularity contests, largely because they felt that the contests were basically a form of teasing. The advisor told us about a student undergoing chemo who was elected the boy with the “best hair” and social misfits being named “most popular” or “friendliest” or what-have-you.
Obviously, these kids were devastated, so that was the reason the advisor decided to pull the plug. He also felt that, if the students didn’t care that much, there was no reason to do it.
Yes. They had stuff like biggest flirt or best dressed or friendliest or whatever. I really didn’t know them.
My daughter’s on the yearbook staff at her school, and I don’t think they do that anymore. The two yearbooks I’ve seen from there have a lot of pictures and quotes from a variety of kids (some obvious nobodies) and a little paragraph saying something like, “Lisa really enjoys her Spanish classes and is planning to become a teacher. Her two little brothers give her plenty of opportunities to work with children!”
We didn’t either. It was a pretty big school so such identifiers would have been pretty meaningless. Nor did we have “Kings” or “Queens” at dances as I’ve seen in movies. That kind of thing would not have flown.
I was in the class of '84 and we had all those “popularity” and “most likely to succeeds” things. I think I even got one. “Most Talkative” of course.
We had all the senior quotes and last time I checked, I was amazed by how little any of it meant to me now. I am still looking forward to my 25 year reunion next year though.
We didn’t have stuff like that in our yearbooks, but every year there was some sort of senior ceremony thing, and there were little trophies handed out. I didn’t attend mine, but I did win Most Musical (tied with bandmate David Pixley) in absentia.
Class of '97 checking in. We had the “most popular” thing at my school. I think they actually nailed most of them too. Of course, we had some hard asses on the yearbook staff, so there was no joking around with this kind of stuff.
No. Obviously, the jocks, cheerleaders, student council types were the most popular, with homecoming and prom king and queen being the top of the jock/cheerleader group. Any further designation would be redundant.
Honorable mention was always given to the exchange student (except for the one who was deported for dealing in porn), and for some student with some severe physical problem.
We also had a “manhood” and “womanhood” award which, even with my extreme cynicism, generally went to people who actually deserved them.
Yes, we had them, with many categories. I won two: “Most Studious” (obviously I was good at covering up all those hours I spent playing videogames and listening to Kansas albums), and the classic “Most Likely to Succeed” (which will come as news to my cow-orkers in this nonprofit).
Our yearbook did (class of 91). I was shocked to receive one: Most Changed. I think the common perception was that I went from being a sweet, quiet, pastel-wearing cheerleader type to, um, well, the opposite. I don’t remember anyone getting upset by them.
It wasn’t voted on; the yearbook editors gave “class honors” to everyone, but they were never cruel and usually positive. The closest one was “Class Polack,” but that wasn’t considered an insult by the guy involved – there were a lot of Polish-Americans in the class and he got a kick out of it. I think we even asked him first if he minded.
We also had some clever pictures. The best was the “Class Politician,” which had the guy wearing a top hat and standing in the cemetery looking for votes. The “Class Polack” was in a photo with the “Class Farmer,” putting the Farmer into a potato bag.
I know there were “Most Popular,” but that was an editorial decision, and since nearly everyone had a photo in this section of the yearbook (there were only 120 in our class), no one was upset by it.
Yeah, we had these in my 1996 senior yearbook. In fact, they created a new category just for me, one that had never appeared before and hasn’t appeared since, AFAIK: Most Likely to Fall Asleep in Class. I lobbied hard and got something like 95% of the vote on that one. For some reason, I was very proud of that.
'79, and it was by popular vote, and published in the end of the year issue of the school newspaper with a center spread of photos, not immortalized in the concrete yearbook. I was voted “Most Artistic”, and runner up for Smartest, and Most Humorous, in the female division. Looking back now, I sure wouldn’t put much stock in it.
I don’t believe any of this kind of stuff is entrenched in Canadian schools. I could be wrong, but I don’t remember any of that, nor the whole homecoming thing or huge expectations on prom night, etc.
Class of '91. I got “Most Dependable,” for some reason. I’m not sure what I did to get that, but I guess it works.
On senior awards day, one of the awards given out by the principal was the “We Challenge You” award, given to a student with promise but who didn’t really apply himself as much as he could. Later in the day, a couple students started giving out awards for class cut-ups. I got the “We Challenge You” award in class cut-upry. I’m far more proud of that award.
