Written to Last: More than Just “HAGS”

For many students across campus, yearbook signing is more than just writing names on the thick glossy pages. It is one of the lasting traditions of the school year, combining friendship, nostalgia, and pressure to come up with the perfect message to sum up the year. Some students spend several minutes crafting a paragraph, while others panic, settling for “HAGS,” short for “Have a Great Summer.” 

The pressure to write something good weighs on some students. Sonya Mittal ’27 acknowledges that she ​​overthinks what to write in people’s yearbooks. “I picture them in 10 to 15 years looking back at what I wrote so I want to make sure that it’s a nice message,” she said. On the other hand, some students express that they’ve outgrown the pressure. Ripley Chance ’26 said, “ I don’t overthink what I write in people’s yearbooks too much. I have noticed a change since I was younger though. When I was in middle school, I cared a lot more about people’s opinions of me, so I cared a lot more about what I wrote, but now I just write from the heart and it doesn’t feel stressful, just sweet.”

To some students, the best signatures are personal. Inside jokes, references to classes, memories of teammates, and random moments often fill the margins of the pages. Mittal adds: “What makes a yearbook message memorable to me is if someone makes it specific to the person and doesn’t just say to have a good summer. Even if it’s someone that I don’t know too well, I appreciate when they still find something we have in common,” Although yearbooks are filled with school portraits and event photos, Heidi Li ’29 says that “the signatures add a personal touch in a way that social media posts or text messages cannot.” Li added, “I like seeing different people’s handwriting because it reflects their personality. If they had just typed it instead, it wouldn’t feel the same.” Chance adds that she “likes yearbook messages that have inside jokes. They should never have the common cliches of ‘I hope we stay in touch’ or ‘have a great summer’.”

The culture surrounding yearbook signing also has its own unspoken rules. Students try to collect as many signatures as possible before the final day of school, passing yearbooks around during class or asking friends to “save space” for longer notes. To Li, “Having empty pages feels awkward, while a yearbook packed with writing feels like the completion of my school year.” Devy Underkoftler ’29 agreed that, “not every signature is serious, but they capture what the school year actually felt like.”

Years from now, students may not remember every assignment, grade, or test they took, but many might look back on the messages written in the pages of their yearbooks. “I think I’ll look back on my yearbooks years from now. Maybe when I’m in college, have a career and want to remember high school,” Mittal concludes. 

The tradition of yearbook signing continues because it preserves a version of people as they were in the moment; their handwriting, humour, friendships, and personalities all captured on the page. By the final bell of the school year, the pages are crowded with signatures in different colors and handwriting. Some messages are heartfelt, funny, or even quick, but together, they become a snapshot of the year that students can keep long after their days at school are over.