Every year, as seniors reach the final weeks of their time at New Trier, Dr. Dohrer makes morning announcements over the PA system in the morning, teachers sternly address their students, and eager sophomores and juniors buzz in the hallways, all with their eyes on senior pranks.
After all this build-up, every year someone throws something down the P-stairwell. Whether it’s crickets, flour, or other items, the names of which could never be printed in the News, it’s always the same old story.
In the end, where does this “prank” lead? Only to hours of cleanup from the school’s custodial staff which, quite frankly, has enough on their plate, and a collective yawn from the student body.
Hey Class of 2013: please don’t do this. It doesn’t matter whether you’re chucking hard-boiled eggs, live octopi, or liquid nitrogen from one of the Chemistry labs. You’re not impressing anyone and the cleanup is laborious and simply not worth the unoriginal prank that wouldn’t even crack a smile on your one friend who still thinks that Family Guy is funny.
Unoriginal shenanigans can put lives in danger as well. In 1992, a group of seniors thought it would be a good idea to release pigs doused in motor oil into the school from the cafeteria. According to the Chicago Tribune, in the pig chase, one of the animals suffered a wide variety of lacerations and bruises, and was so dehydrated that the Animal Control officer who arrived at the scene thought it was dead. We would definitely not call ourselves PETA enthusiasts here at the New Trier News, but we see a clear issue with this.
As members of the Class of 2013, we say that our class should step up its act next year. We’re certainly not saying that all pranks are harmful and pointless because that’s simply not true. A prank, if original and in good taste, can be a fun experience for all parties involved, even for the one being pranked. Nor are we endorsing pranks by any means. Our point is this: if you’re going to pull a senior prank, do something creative, safe, and new.
Many in the past have found ways to do this. A few years ago students created a story that is now firmly embedded in New Trier lore with a simple click of a camera and payment to a newspaper. The jokesters sent a picture of the front of the Winnetka Campus to the Real Estate section of a newspaper and listed “the property on 385 Winnetka Avenue” for sale with the superintendent’s phone number as the contact. Aside from the shattered hopes of a few unfortunate potential buyers, no one was hurt in the making of that prank and it is perhaps the most talked about senior prank at New Trier.
Coming up with an original idea is not as hard as it sounds.Why not throw a retirement party for an unsuspecting and absolutely not retiring Dr. Dohrer in the last week of school next year? Finding an administrator with a sense of humor would likely not prove to be too difficult and you might even get some food out of it. If a party is going too far, gathering a group of students and posting signs thanking the principal for his years of service to the school and wishing him luck in his retirement would certainly suffice.
The future is bright for the Class of 2013. Next year, we step into school as the senior class. Next year, we rule the school. Next year, we prank creatively and harmlessly or not at all. And finally, next year if someone drops something down the P-stairwell, we drop them down to the Class of 2014.