John Burroughs
Yearbook
Senior Messages
Paragraphs must be a maximum of 350-400 words and emailed to yearbook@jburroughs.org with the subject line "Senior Paragraph" + "your full name" (this helps keep the paragraphs organized). Messages that go over the word count will be returned to the student for revision.
Deadline : Monday, November 27, 2023
Senior Message Guidelines
Both your senior photo and paragraph are your own creation, however there are a few guidelines. Faculty sponsors and yearbook staff will enforce these guidelines. We will not let anything pass that does not meet these guidelines. We will simply delete anything inappropriate or questionable.
The yearbook is a public document and what goes in must be in good taste, must look good, and must be consistent with the rules of behavior for Burroughs students.
No questionable language; even “hell” is not allowed; no representations of questionable language: s..t or f$#k are not ok. If we don’t know what something means, we will find out or simply delete it.
No body parts or bodily functions should be mentioned.
Leave out the word “guys;” (Mom and Dad aren’t guys...); Leave out extraneous words or redundancies (Dear Mom and Dad, You guys...)
Just because something is a quotation or part of a song/poem/book, etc., does not mean it is acceptable; also if you use a quotation, you must cite the author. Either put quotes around the passage or italicizes it but don’t do both.
Remember others at JBS besides 11th and 12th grade teachers; most of you have been here for several years and other teachers, coaches and staff in this school had to have influenced you. If you wait until the last minute to write this you tend to forget those who came before junior year; Also, a note at the end of the year rather than a passing “thanks to all my teachers” is more personal and more appreciated.
Remember your parents and your grandparents will read your paragraph, and in 20 years your children will read your paragraph. You should be able to explain everything and still be proud of what you said. The media uses yearbooks for candidates running for public office, which could be you in a few years!
This is not a forum to vent your anger and/or frustration with parents, school, friends etc.
Spell-check the paragraph, read it aloud; fix grammar mistakes.
Please avoid using abbreviations for names, and slang terms.
You should cite all quotes that you plan on using in your paragraph.
Begin to work on this now; give yourself time to think about it after you compose it; many times students realize they have forgotten to mention someone. Once we receive the paragraph no corrections can be made. November 29 will come upon you faster than you want to believe. Those paragraphs written at the last minute look it and sound it... If you have any questions, see Ms. Moore any yearbook editor.