Senior year scrapbook: firsts, lasts and results day
Run it from the first day of the final year to results: firsts and lasts, applications and offers, prom, exams and friends' pages. Collect as you go and arrange over the summer.
In the last year of school, things end without being marked as the last time: the last bus home, the last lesson with a teacher. Keep a list of lasts from September.
In the UK this is Year 13; in the US, senior year of high school. Where results come out after you leave, the book runs on into the summer.
Make the memory book together
Invite people to send photos and their own words, then choose what goes in the book.
Questions for friends' pages
- When did we first talk, and where?
- Which lesson or teacher from this year will you remember?
- What went wrong on a school trip?
- Where did we spend free periods?
- A year ago, what did you think you would do after school?
- What happened for you on results day?
- Which photo of us from this year should go in?
- What should we do together in ten years?
Firsts and lasts
Keep a phone note with two headings, firsts and lasts, and add a dated line as each one happens.
- First day as the oldest year in school
- First driving lesson or test
- Last lesson with each teacher
- Last school lunch, last bus, last fire drill
- Last day in uniform, if you wear one
Applications and offers
Keep the outcome rather than the paperwork. A screenshot of an offer, cropped to remove reference numbers, is enough.
Whether to include a personal statement or a rejection is up to you. If other people will see the book, leave out anything you would not show them.
Exams and results day
Exam season is hard to photograph. Keep the timetable, a picture of the desk you revised at, and the date of your last paper.
On results day, photograph where you opened them and who was there. Write what happened next in your own words.
Prom and leavers' events
Keep the ticket, a photo before leaving the house and one group photo. Signed shirts and leavers' hoodies are too bulky: photograph them laid flat and store the originals.
Friends' pages
Ask five to ten friends for a page each before the last day, while you still see them daily. Once everyone leaves, replies slow down.
Pages to make
September
A first-day photo, your timetable and the start of the firsts and lasts list.
Applications
Cropped offer screenshots, open day tickets and a photo from each visit.
Prom and the last day
The prom ticket and photos, the signed shirt photographed flat, and friends' pages.
Results day
Where you opened your results, who you were with, and what you decided next.
Questions
What goes in a senior year scrapbook?
Firsts and lasts, applications and offers, prom, exam season, the last day, results day and pages from friends, each with a date.
When should I start one?
In the first week of the final year, with a running list. Arrange the pages over the summer once results are in.
How is it different from a graduation scrapbook?
A graduation book centres on the ceremony and final work. A senior year book follows the whole year as it happens, including the lasts nobody photographs.