Senior superlatives voting for the RBHS yearbook opened Monday, Feb. 28 and will close Monday, March 7, providing seniors with a week-long window to nominate peers for each superlative. The voting link is available in an email from principal Jacob Sirna sent out Monday, Feb. 28 as well as the RBHS Flashback Instagram page, and will be introduced to students by senior studies teachers.

After the first round of nominations, a second round will open March 8 to vote for the finalists for each superlative. The two nominees for each superlative will be selected in this second round from a pool of four finalists. Yearbook Editor-in-Chief Will Andrews said the staff chose to leave the pairs unlabeled in an effort to remove gender from the process.

“It would be a joke to act like it’s not a popularity contest, but I think we’re trying to make it as widespread as possible to fight that,” Andrews said. “So, I think we’re doing our best effort to try to be as inclusive as possible.”

Journalism teacher Therasia Brautigam is the facilitator for the student-run yearbook and said there are positives and negatives with senior superlatives. She said it is nice to recognize seniors, especially by their peers, but there is a risk of potential exclusion.

“I just think [there’s] a really big opportunity to leave out groups of students that might not have opportunities to participate in things at RBHS or underserved populations at RBHS,” Brautigam said. “But overall, it’s student run and student created and that’s a really nice thing about it.”

Yearbook Editor-in-Chief Emma Hake said yearbook superlatives were important because they provide a good alternative for the lack of senior quotes and therefore satisfy the students.

“I like [senior superlatives] and all the other schools have them,” Hake said. “It’s a fun way to remember high school and look back at it and you’re like, ‘Oh yeah, I remember the class clown, he was so funny.’ You know, stuff like that.” 

Although senior superlatives can be both good and bad, both Brautigam and Andrews said the most important thing is getting as many people involved as possible. Some of these superlatives include, but are not limited to, ‘Most likely to laugh,’ ‘Most likely to save the world,’ and ‘Best dressed.’

“We need to reach out to as many seniors as possible,” Brautigam said. “Then, we can have more nominations and include more people.”

What do you think of senior superlatives? Let us know in the comments below?