Senior pranksters make their mark stick at La Jolla High

As weary La Jolla High students reluctantly schlepped themselves to school one recent morning, they were greeted by stickies — lots and lots of stickies.

The stickies were used to label every corner of the campus on June 1; each individual brick on several walls was conveniently marked “brick” while the doors of favorite LJHS teachers were covered with inside jokes and affectionate messages. Quirkier notes showcased the idiosyncratic humor of the mysterious pranksters; “Jessica wuz here” scrawled on the school bulletin board was accompanied by a stickie labeled “Really, Jessica?”

These shenanigans were a part of the Class of 2010’s senior prank, a tradition practiced at high schools across the nation. Each senior class is expected to best the previous class both in creativity and general hilarity. The pressure was on the graduating seniors, as they had lost Airband (lip-synching competition) and Powerpuff (female flag football game among the four classes) — two LJHS events that are considered hallmarks of class spirit. A disappointing senior prank would permanently brand the Class of 2010 for years to come.

LJHS students have traditionally never been impressed with the senior prank. Reactions to past pranks have been tepid at best. Last year’s pranks of bleaching designs onto school grass and “tee-peeing” various buildings drew negative backlash from both students and school administration, who had to pay to have the damage fixed.

As the day progressed, the consensus on the prank among the underclassmen was predominantly critical. Jordan Mautner, a junior, called it “lame” and Alex Saeed, a junior, deemed it “so dumb.” A sample of several other students produced similar answers.

This reaction, however, was not universal. Cara Cadman, a sophomore, said that she “couldn’t understand why everyone bashed it.” Additionally, Kelsey McLeod, a junior, thought it was “funny and clever.”

The consensus among teachers was drastically different. Kerry Dill, an AP Psychology teacher and ASB adviser, said that “we love seeing pranks that are creative and not permanently destructive, which we have seen in the past. I think a lot of teachers appreciated (this prank) because it had a lot of positivity about teachers that made it enjoyable.”

When asked about her reaction to the prank, Jewel Weien, an AP English teacher, responded that she immediately wondered how much planning went into it.

“I thought it was colorful and cute. (One of the pranksters) even left me a free pad of stickies. That’s all I have to say about that.”

Regardless of individual opinion, the senior prank infused a bit of cheeky humor to an otherwise typical Tuesday morning. By the end of the day, the senior class accomplished what they set out to do all along — be remembered for years to come.