Katie Kuberra
Reporter
Around the time of superlative nominations, the school is abuzz with seniors campaigning for which superlative they want to win. On Facebook, Twitter and in class it is not uncommon to hear “Vote me for Best Dressed” or “Vote me for Best Voice”, but has anyone ever asked “Vote me for Worst Driver”?
The administration and the yearbook students have decided to remove certain superlatives from this year’s yearbook, replacing them with positive superlatives such as “Most Likely to Brighten Someone’s Day”.
Yearbook editor, senior Emma Fitchner, explained the reasoning behind removing potentially offensive superlatives. “Some of them are offensive to some people and we’ve had issues before in the past with certain superlatives,” she said. “Administration gets involved and we don’t want to get the yearbook taken away because of something like offensive superlatives.”
Yearbook teacher James Zambarano, however, understands that the offensive superlatives aren’t to be taken lightly. “The kids say ‘Oh they know it’s just a joke, they laugh when they see them’,” he said. “It’s okay for someone to make a joke about themselves, but it’s different when we make a public statement in a book that will last forever. It’s not something that I want to be remembered for as the one in charge of publishing such material.”
Senior McCabe Hemmers think that people shouldn’t be sensitive to superlatives. “I think people are way too sensitive these days about things like that, nothing like a high school superlative is really that big of a deal,” he said.
Mr. Zambarano argues that the superlative change is about more than just offending people. “The other reason is for journalistic excellence,” he said. “We’re really trying to raise the bar for the yearbook. Superlatives are really junior high and lend themselves to being hurtful. That’s not what the book is all about, the book is more for creating memories, it’s for being more uplifting and uniting.”
Senior Courtney Rogers does not think that superlatives are appropriate for a high school setting. “Superlatives can be very offensive to some people,” she said. “Labeling somebody by voting for them as a negative superlative is pretty immature. It’s doesn’t seem like something that high schoolers should be involved with.”
Mr. Zambarano is focused on adapting superlatives as society changes. “As a parent that has a daughter and a son, I wouldn’t want them to be remembered as ‘biggest flirt’,” he said. “Traditions change because times change and society changes. As far as raising the bar goes, the change to me was a no brainer.”
