Memorializing Teens in School Yearbooks

Eric Adler and Laura Bauer of the Kansas City Star write about the disparate ways area high schools handle memorializing deceased teenagers in school yearbooks.

In the smiling world of high school yearbooks, the rule is often get a picture of every student — no matter how popular, no matter how unpopular.

The Student Council president and the Goth. The stoner and the cheerleader. The freaks, geeks, jocks and geniuses.

For both sensitivity (all kids are special) and marketing (more kids pictured means more books sold) the motto inscribed in most school yearbooks these days could easily be agnosco sulum: Recognize everyone.

Except one category of students: those who die.

They interview several yearbook advisers about school policies and the difficulties involved in honoring the students who have died.