WOODBURY – Which one are you: class clown? Best dressed? Most likely to become president, perhaps? 

The Nonnewaug Yearbook Club will soon announce who’s who for the 2023-24 school year, and it’s creating quite a buzz among the student body. There’s a few reasons behind the excitement, but one in particular is the most noteworthy: Superlatives for this year’s edition of the yearbook have been created for not just the senior class, but for all of the grade levels as well.

Senior students vie each year to have themselves immortalized in the yearbook as a superlative. Having to share this normally exclusive detail of the yearbook with the other grades isn’t sitting too well with many of the graduating class.

“I don’t think it’s fair that we haven’t had a set of superlatives until now, and all of a sudden the rest of the grades get one now, too,” senior Juliette Nichols said of the decision. 

Senior Madison Willis agrees: “Having superlatives is something seniors look forward to each year. Taking that special part of the yearbook and giving it to everyone else is kind of annoying.”

What many seniors don’t realize, though, is that it was the choice of some of their own peers to create superlatives for each grade. 

Senior yearbook editor-in-chief Claire Suttles explained that the reasoning behind the settlement is for the greater good of the student body, despite the backlash it has received from many of her classmates.

“We like to give everyone a say in what goes on in our yearbook because it isn’t about one section of the student body,” she said. “We want everyone to feel valued and a part of the yearbook.”

She also added that even though the senior class “should be prioritized in the yearbook, it’s really important to include the other grades and giving them a few superlatives is a great way of doing so.” 

Hailey Goldman, a sophomore yearbook editor, also emphasizes that senior yearbook members were the main advocates of having superlatives for all of the grade levels. 

“Some seniors suggested that we do superlatives for underclassmen just because it’s an easy way to give more attention to the other grades in the yearbook, and we were able to get answers in quickly, of course,” Goldman said of the decision process. “When we decided on that decision, which seniors have the main case in, a couple of seniors in the class agreed that that was going to be the best option for underclassmen.”

Not only are students upset at the prospect of having separate superlatives for each grade, but many are also citing the superlatives themselves as not being up to par with their expectations.  

Such superlatives as “Best Radio/Podcast Voice” and “Best Taste in Music” had some students stumped, with many wishing that more standard superlatives concerning athletic capability or school spirit had been included as well.

“I wish they were more traditional superlatives,” Willis said of the lineup for this year. 

Nichols agreed, adding, “I think that they are too specific. They could have done better.”

Determining who to vote for for some of the superlatives has proven to be difficult, with Willis and Nichols both citing “Best Radio/Podcast Voice” as being the most challenging to match a name to. 

“Who am I supposed to vote for that?” Nichols said of the option. “It’s such a random question, I don’t even know who I will choose.”

Although they may not be the most favorable with the student body this year, voting responses have continued to flow in. Submissions were used to create the final voting ballots, which were released via Google Classroom. Suttles said there were about 40 ballots submitted for nominations, which were used to create the final voting.

Goldman added that “freshmen and juniors were actually lacking in their responses with only around 30 for each. The sophomores had like 84 responses, which is a lot more than the freshmen and juniors. But final votes are in and that’s what we’re doing.”

Time will only tell who will end up as the lucky winners, having their names go down in yearbook history as being one of the most memorable students in their class. 

“Even though the majority doesn’t love the superlatives, I am excited to see what our grade thinks,” said Willis. “A lot of people have a lot of different opinions, so it should be interesting to see if the final winners are actually worthy of the superlatives.”