There are several ways to be featured in the Walpole High yearbook — by clubs, by sports, or just by candid pictures. On February 5th during the PLC block, the senior class piled into the gym to hear Ms. Kerry Mcmenimen announce the winners of those who would be recognized in the yearbook as going above and beyond in specific areas—the Senior Superlatives.
The superlatives this year ranged from recognizing talent, like in sports or art, to acknowledging a fault, like being a bad driver or lacking common sense. Whether the superlatives were serious or funny, the announcements of the winners riled up the senior class as they cheered for their friends; the winners then came down to get their pictures taken by Mr. Henry Baker.
A decent amount of superlatives are given based on the features that a person has, and are essentially a compliment given by the entire senior class. Seana Cofsky and Johnny Adams won Best Looking; Daria Grady and Ryan Erwin won Secret Crush; Kelsey Flanagan and Chris Nee won Best Eyes; Sydney King and Chris Frye won Best Hair; Ally Russo and Nolan Murray won Best Smile; Kinsey Hirae and Jungwoo Yoon won Best Dressed; and Holly Norberg and Matt Bender won Best Laugh.
Another bunch of superlatives are given to those who exhibit a high amount of talent in a very broad range of topics. Lauren Bodin and Mike Rando won Most Athletic; Vandana Apte and Jungbin Lim won Most Likely To Succeed; Ali Ajemian and Caleb Cofsky won Most Musical; Emily Muller and Jared Porack won Most Artistic; and Jackie Gately and Becky Chariton won Most Likely To Be Famous. While some superlatives were a surprise to the winners and their friends, others were not so surprising: “Winning Most Likely To Succeed was expected,” said Lim, who is at the top of the senior class.
Other seniors were recognized for just bringing some entertainment to the class throughout their four years of high school. Molly Breen and Nolan Froese won Class Clown; Aurora Hebner and John Lochhead won Most Sarcastic; and Jess McNamara and Alex Marcinkowski won Best Tweeter. “My superlative is going to be obsolete in 3 years and I’m ok with that,” said Alex Marcinkowski on, coincidentally, Twitter.
Some of the awards acknowledged the winners’ relationships and manners of interaction to others in the grade. Christine Saad and Harvest Perez won Class Flirt; Erin Richardson and Eric Jansen won Most Social; Darci Bruce and Connor McCarthy won Friendliest; Maddy Shea and Mary Reedy won Most Likely to Grow Old Together for girls, and Richie Breen and Gary DeVincentis won for boys. Winning on of the most popular superlatives, Bruce said, “I agreed with all of the categories.”
Every year there are several new categories that the Yearbook Staff chooses, like Most Likely to Survive a Zombie Apocalypse for the Class of 2012. This year, Jen McDonald and PJ Hayes won Least Common Sense; Katie Sarnie and Gary DeVincentis won Worst Driver; Sam McChesney and Ricky Ordway won Strongest; and Bethany Welch and Zach Rogers won Most Changed Since Freshman Year. These interesting superlatives helped to reveal some information about seniors that those other than the winners’ friends might not have known about; “Superlatives are a nice way to learn different things about your classmates,” said fellow winner Chariton.
The voting and announcing of Senior Superlatives never fails to excite the Senior Class each year, and this year was no exception. As popular as superlatives are, some people do not care about them as much as others. “Superlatives are just a popularity contest,” said Chris Nash. Either way, friends rallied together to vote for who they thought deserved each category, and while there were numerous winners that only won by a few votes, the Senior Superlative winners are surely worthy of their titles.
