Numerous high school students around the nation enjoy the happiness and glorified end of high school that senior pranks have represented over the years.
At Carlmont, there have been ups and downs in the matter, but now there seems to be little to no participation of senior pranks due to various reasons.
“I think most high schools don’t have senior pranks like they used to. A lot of things like the rules and people’s reactions to them have changed over the years,” said junior Neeshae Wain.
In the past, Carlmont and other high schools would look at senior pranks as a tradition or something that they could look forward to at the end of a long year and the beginning of a fun summer.
“In 1969 when my dad graduated from Carlmont, there were a lot of senior pranks that went on at school. I specifically remember that he told me that his class dumped a bunch of pop rocks in the school’s pool. I thought it was really funny, but now it seems like pranks like those are long gone,” said junior Cody Campbell.
Past Carlmont student Thomas Yeh said, “In 2011 when I graduated, there was a fake ‘mandatory letter’ for a penis inspection which I thought was funny. It wasn’t disruptive or damaging to others, so I think it was a pretty toned down version of a senior prank.”
Even at other schools, students look forward to the chaos and fun of these pranks from their own graduating seniors.
According to the Washington Post, at Pinecrest High School in Southern Pines, N.C., numerous students of the senior class put up signs in front of the school that offered the school and everything else in it for sale. This is a particular example of a senior prank that was approved by a teacher and followed the rules of school, or in other words, was not harmful in any way.
Nowadays senior pranks at Carlmont don’t occur as often as before, therefore most students don’t even talk or expect much from them.
Junior Komei Wang said, “I think senior pranks don’t happen as much now because of all of the consequences that come along with them. I wouldn’t participate in one because nowadays schools have made it clear that they’ll enforce the rules no matter what.”
Sophomore Kevin Edwards said, “I think senior pranks are funny and cool to have because it’s kind of like students are trying to get back at their teachers for the four years they spent in high school. Even though they can be disruptive to the school environment, they’re usually harmless entertainment.”
According to a poll of students at Carlmont, 73 percent said they would take part in a senior prank while only 27 percent said they would not.
“I think it’s pretty clear that people would want to do senior pranks, but because so many other students have gotten into loads of trouble over them, people usually don’t to want to deal with all of it,” said junior Victoria Poslavsky.
While some senior pranks have been inappropriate or not as entertaining to students at Carlmont, students still think we can anticipate a senior prank this year.
“I’m sure that some seniors would want to do one, but I think we’ll just have to wait and see how it all plays out,” said senior Jordan Kiss.
Edwards said, “I think there could be a senior prank this year since the class of 2014 seems like they would want to at least attempt it.”
Though senior pranks used to be a more common occurrence in earlier times, they’re still valued by many students who look for some optimism at the end of the the school year.
