The last few days of school are filled with final exams, bittersweet farewells, and yearbook signings. While the latter can be fun and sentimental, it’s often a time where normally interesting people tend to be cliché and unoriginal. Despite how sweet and nostalgic quickly scrawled messages in yearbooks can be, Ledyard High School is full of students complaining about the sheer number of times “H.A.G.S.” (Have a great summer) has appeared in their endsheets.

Signing yearbooks can be a momentous occasion for some. A quick Google search of “how to sign a yearbook” yields a solid dozen of long articles about how important the act is. Thought Catalog’s Ryan O’Connell wrote that “Signing someone’s yearbook in elementary, middle, and high school meant serious business. People waited nine months to speak their mind and they did not [mess] around with the privilege.”

A yearbook’s endsheets are an open space for people to feel loved and to express love, and no matter how chill someone may seem, looking at a page littered with “Have a good summer!” is sure to annoy/bore them.

Here are some unique and meaningful ways to sign your friends’ yearbooks:

1. Be cheesy. Even if you and your friends aren’t the type to be sentimental and emotional, who knows what you’ll be like in 20 years when you take a road down memory lane? Additionally, the cheesier you are, the more likely your friend will pull out their yearbook when they need to be cheered up— and don’t we all want to make someone’s day? I like flaunting my friendships, and a yearbook is the perfect place to do that.
2. Draw something! Not everyone is suuuuuper artistic, but a nice doodle is visually pleasing and is sure to stand out. Remember, a picture is worth a thousand words, and drawings are technically pictures.
3. Scribble down an inside joke. It’s both witty, wonderfully absurd, and guaranteed to result in a bunch of giggles/chuckles/guffaws, which is the ideal reaction from reading someone’s yearbook message, other than maybe tearing up from happiness.
4. Quote Shakespeare. High school is associated with lots of things, and one of them is the Bard’s long and apparently hilarious writings. Check out this post (http://community.sparknotes.com/2017/05/17/how-to-sign-peoples-yearbooks-according-to-shakespeare) for amazing one-liners like “I prithee, call me” and “Peace, you dull fool!”
5. Make plans for the summer. When you’re with someone who over analyzes everything, phrases like “See ya next year!” convey the subtle message that we-aren’t-friends-and-I-have-nothing-to-say-to-you. Instead, make specific (or vague) plans— the options are endless. Either “Let’s go bowling June 29th!” or “Let’s hang out sometime!” works.

It’s also important to note that yearbook messages should be PG. I remember intense arguments breaking out after yearbooks came out because someone wrote something explicit and inappropriate, and a parent happened to read it. Try to steer clear.

Carina Wang, Editor-in-Chief

Junior Carina Wang is the Editor-in-Chief of The Colonel. She participates in PALESTRA. Outside of school, she can be found volunteering her time at humanitarian nonprofits, running a study inspiration Tumblr blog, or avidly refreshing PowerSchool.