Over the last several years, Hingham High School’s Yearbook Club has consistently put out excellent, annual publications for HHS students. Their pictures and excerpts capture all of the best moments of the high school experience, making for a precious keepsake cherished by many — myself included. However, anyone who has flipped through the pages of a yearbook may have noticed a noteworthy omission: the lack of senior quotes.
Senior quotes are a quintessential part of many high schools’ yearbooks, yet none are to be found in the Hingham High School version. HHS is not the only school to abstain from the tradition, as a number of other high schools around the country no longer include senior quotes in their yearbooks as well. The rationale behind their exclusion is often that senior quotes can lead to inappropriate or offensive content being published and dispersed, potentially damaging the reputation of implicated students and the school alike. However, with the Yearbook Club and school administration overseeing the process, many students at HHS feel that it’s time for senior quotes to make a return.
Cab Amidei, a senior at Hingham High School, noted that, “senior quotes provide a special opportunity for students to express themselves in a real, lasting way. It’s a bummer we don’t have them.” Fellow senior Matteo Arienti added to this point, explaining, “they provide a unique insight into every student in the grade. I’ve thought about what mine would be if we had them, but, y’know, we don’t.” These two are not alone in their perspective; many lunch table conversations and study hall discussions have come to the conclusion that senior quotes should be a part of the yearbook.
It’s important to note that, of course, all of this is an HHS policy, not a Yearbook Club policy. It is fair to assume that the members of the Yearbook Club are just as large of proponents of senior quotes as the rest of the student body. Any real change, though, must come at the hands of the school administration. Although it’s been some time since senior quotes have graced Hingham High School’s yearbooks, with enough student support, there’s a chance that they could re-appear in the 2024-2025 edition.
