The Final Laugh for the Graduating Class
Seniors from the class of 2018 brought their own welding equipment from home and an old car to school. They welded the car together around the flag pole during the night. The seniors cleaned up after the prank and removed the car the next day.
Where seniors spend the year applying and being accepted into colleges, some use the end of the year as an opportunity to get one last bit of fun before they graduate. One example of this is the infamous senior prank in which the graduating class pulls a prank that is generally harmless while leaving the school something to remember them by. At many schools this includes a class gift to the school that all students can use. Throughout the years, PVHS has been home to several notorious senior pranks.
Janet Topete has been teaching Spanish at Pleasant Valley for 30 years and she’s experienced her fair share of graduation tricks.
“There was one year where they plugged up these three holes [in the amphitheater] and filled it up with water and brought in pounds of sand,” shared Topete, “It was like a little beach and the seniors came dressed in beach clothes and brought floaties!”
Topete also shared that one graduating class organized a memorable and vibrant event where everyone wore white and threw powdered chalk at one another.
The senior prank is the final project for the graduating class and brings them together one last time. It unites students and allows them time to blow off the steam from their entire senior year, wrapping it up in a playful and safe way.
Senior Mikhaela Compuesto, the president of the California Scholarship Federation shared that she believes, “Senior pranks [are] a great way for seniors to commemorate their last year of high school and leave something [for the school] to remember their class by.”
“Annual traditions like these,” Compuesto said, “are a rite of passage for students as they get ready to graduate. It gives them something to look forward to, something to keep them motivated through all the testing, and something to celebrate while being a senior,”
Other students are looking forward to their senior year to be able to participate in traditions like these as well.
Junior Sahil Gaikwad shares that he feels “excited for next year’s senior traditions because it will be fun to goof around during [his] last year at PV” while also “relieving the tensions of college applications and other senior stresses.”
Although the end of the school year brings tears to many as they say goodbye to those they may never see again, it brings with it also the arrival of the senior prank as seniors have one last laugh before they move onto the next stage of their life. As we prepare for the end of the school year, we will need to wait and see what this year’s graduating class will do as they get ready to graduate.
Ethan is a senior and this is his second year on the Saga. He likes to play video games like Valorant in his free time.
