By: Timmy Moon

“What’s Next?”

That’s what I would write for my senior quote. Short, meaningful, and yet peculiar. It might make people laugh or maybe just remember who I was when they flip through the memorable pages after finding it in their attic 10 years from now.

But here’s the thing, we can’t write senior quotes at Marriott’s Ridge. Not after an incident that happened over a decade ago. Quotes have been banned because of one student who made fun of another student in their quote. A single line that passed due to undersupervised quotes shut down what used to be a fun tradition for everyone else.

Senior quotes may not seem like a big deal to some people, but they are. They make the yearbook more personal. Everyone’s photos look similar, but the few words that are under your senior picture show something unique about yourself. Like senior SGA presi-
dent Henry Phillips said, “They’re very good for showing the personality of our year. When we buy yearbooks, we want to remember each student.” And that’s true.

When we take a step back into memory lane, it’s not just about faces. It’s about the people we were at that time. What we thought was funny, what we loved, and what we wanted to say before moving on to the next big, scary, and serious period of our lives. Losing that feels like losing a piece of school spirit. We’ve seen how other schools still have quotes. No laws prevent us from having them. Our school just never brought it back, and lots of people want it to return. Phillips even said he’s been talking to teachers and other student leaders about it, trying to get the tradition started again. So it’s definitely possible if people take it seriously.

Of course, I understand why the school banned it in the first place. It is not right to see someone bluntly hurt or disrespected. But not allowing anyone to do it doesn’t really fix the problem. Like junior Veronica Romero said, “It’s not fair to ruin it for everyone else.” If the concern is about offensive quotes, there are various solutions. An obvious option is that teachers could check them before they go in. If there’s a problem, they could just reach out to the student to fix it. Other steps could have students write out explanations for their quotes, or appoint teachers and students to check each quote, to not only have an older group but a younger group to approve or flag the memes or movie lines.

There definitely should be some limits. Nothing that targets someone or a specific group. Nothing hateful or rude. Just common sense. And I know that common sense is sometimes hard to find in growing high schoolers, but if the school fosters a positive environment to have these quotes, then the students will use quotes as a time to leave a mark and not as a time to cross lines. It’s time to bring senior quotes back to Marriott’s Ridge. It is a tradition
that represents who we as Mustangs are: respectful, responsible, and ready. One mistake ten years ago shouldn’t silence the voices of hundreds of seniors today. So I’ll say it again, what’s next?

To respond to this article, leave a comment or click here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdPkex8O2HaPdRQyz6fqq9m-2HrHzQOAUKZlzSJHwIUI9NZug/viewform?usp=sharing&ouid=107062190032517456000