Do you anticipate senior prank season with fear? Or are you okay with the tradition, as long as it’s a little harmless fun? We asked in our Facebook group for the best and worst senior pranks that teachers have witnessed. The top answer was definitely seniors hiring a mariachi band to follow the principal around all day! But, some of the other answers just might surprise you.
Bringing in the Animals
Several senior pranks involved animals … and misnumbering them!
“One of the S6 pupils’ dad owned the local farm. On muck up day—their last day of school, he brought 3 sheep in. Numbered 1, 2, and 4 they spent hours looking for 3!” —Lynn M.
“Someone released a live chicken in the lunchroom during breakfast. We could hear it all through the school when the principal finally caught it and had to lock it in his office until he found the rightful owner. ” —Melanie C.
“The best prank I have witnessed was when the seniors transformed the staff parking lot into a petting zoo. Goats, cows, sheep, etc. Hay bales for a border. They had to start pretty early to have that all set up before anyone arrived.” —Lavon H.
“The seniors released live chickens in the cafeteria and they managed to heft into the kitchen area. Had to shut the cafeteria and kitchen down, have professionally cleaned and inspected, before reopening. It was a NIGHTMARE!” —Jamie W.
Cars … So Many Cars!
Another popular theme for senior pranks involved vehicles. Driving them, parking them, and … welding them?
“The welding program seniors welded a VW Bug around the flagpole the day before graduation. The school couldn’t get it off in time, so everyone showing up for graduation had to walk past their prank. Happy ending—they showed up the next day and removed it, so the school didn’t have to pay for it.” —Heather F.
“One of the seniors had a dad who owned a heavy equipment rental business, so they put the principal’s car on the roof of the gym right before Homecoming. Fortunately, he was a good sport about it since he knew he’d get it back.” —Michelle R.
“We have a muck up day every year where they have to do numerous pranks and some traditional ones. The traditional ones are to park a Mini Cooper car in the entrance hall, spray paint the roundabout and bins. They also have to kidnap the junior year group!” —Claudi P.
“Our seniors with small cars drove them into the hallways. It made the news! Very cool, only a little damage.” —Michelle P.F.
Getting the Principal Involved
What’s a good senior prank without getting the principal involved? We mentioned the mariachi band above, but here are a few more.
“The relocation of the principal’s office—including literally everything that wasn’t nailed down—out onto the field. Everything was in the same position as in his actual office, and they ran I don’t know how many feet of electrical cord so that he was fully able to work outside for the day.” —Sarah J.
“The seniors made a ‘poolside lounge’ in the intersection in front of the high school office. They had pool chairs, a small kiddie pool (filled with water!), and lots of pool toys. The principal thought it was a hoot and sat in a pool chair, with her feet in the pool, before school started.” —Lauren M.
Rearrange the Furniture
One of our favorite senior pranks, caught on video!
“The seniors thought they would ‘sneak in’ to the school late at night and put all the senior teachers’ furniture in the hallways. What they didn’t know? That we knew about it! It was great fun and everyone helped clean up afterwards!” —Brianna A.
Good Luck Getting Rid of These Senior Pranks!
Several senior pranks involved leaving items around the school … that were often found years later.
“A class printed thousands of business cards that said something like, ‘There are 5,000 of these hidden around the school. Good luck getting rid of us.’ It was last year’s group, and I still find them sometimes in books or behind a piece of furniture. I think they are funny and harmless.” —Kassie D.
“Over 300 of those crazy-haired trolls hidden all throughout the school building … tossed up onto high ledges too. The later classes/years continued to stumble across those trolls for several more years, and one was so high that no one can get it..so there sits the crazy orange hair.” —Catherine F.
Swapping Students
“Most of the seniors at our school set it up with our Superintendent and the Superintendent of our rival school. The seniors from each school secretly switched schools for the day. I walked in to my first period class, and it was full of thirty kids I had never seen before. I played it off in stride and went around giving them names that I thought they looked like… then 30 more seniors from the rival school packed in, followed by a television crew and our Superintendent. It was pretty well done.” —Jason J.