Think of all the Sharpie messages scrawled across the walls of high school bathroom stalls. The drawings on desks — notes to whoever comes next, warning them of a surprise quiz or saying hello. The initials etched into the concrete under a stairwell marked with a heart. Though these actions are all blatant acts of vandalism, they sit as reminders of a teenager’s seemingly natural urge to leave their mark behind.
With this, it comes as no surprise that seniors are fans of leaving quotes in the yearbook as a final message before they move on to the next phase of their lives. However, starting this year, and for the years to come, senior quotes will be departing from West High. Senior quotes were not just canceled without reason.
West High principal Ms. Murata noted that her and the other vice principals “spent an excessive amount of time going through all of the quotes,” as they had to “look at Urban Dictionary to try to understand what was said” and found that “there were several [quotes] that were inappropriate.” The students with rejected quotes were given multiple opportunities to redeem themselves with a different choice. This process “didn’t seem to yield as much positive as the amount of time that it took” according to Ms. Murata, and the administrative team “felt like the quotes themselves were not making the kind of positive impact that [they] would have liked them to make.”
As a permanent book that represents the school, Ms. Murata wanted the yearbook to “uphold all of the Warrior standards.” She concluded, stating that “there are so many good things that we want to be able to do for students on our campus… I don’t think it’s the best use of our administrative team’s time.”
Despite a lack of any official statement from school admin, word spread like wildfire across the student body. The news even made it to an alumni, who reached out to Ms. Murata with concerns. From classmate to classmate, voices of shock and protest arose whenever the subject was mentioned.
This decision has been met with substantial pushback from many, one person in particular being Kathryn Chan (12). After hearing the news in the form of a rumor, she emailed Capitaneus (yearbook) Adviser Ms. Serafin to confirm the news. “Something just sparked, or something just hit me… I felt motivated to bring back senior quotes,” explained Chan. She created a hand-signed petition in support of senior quotes. It amassed a total of 411 signatures from mostly seniors, but students in other grade levels as well.
Afterward, Chan drafted a proposal with her friends and arranged a meeting with Ms. Murata to present her arguments. She was met without much movement from school administration despite promoting solutions such as incorporating first/second choice quotes and expanding the review process outside of just the administrative team.
She was, unfortunately, “really sad that senior quotes are leaving.” When she “looked into the yearbook, [she] saw that it’s been around for over 20 years” and was sad to see the longstanding tradition go. And though senior quotes aren’t coming back, Ms. Serafin explained that “in the yearbook, we try to offer opportunities for students to express themselves in other ways.” However, like many at West High, Chan “just really likes seeing the little bit of personality in the yearbook, especially in the senior portrait section.”
*The opinions expressed in our Opinion articles are the author’s own and do not necessarily express the views of the Signals Staff or West High as a whole.
