Addisyn Madeen
On April 26, 2023, the seniors rampaged through Saint Maur’s high school corridor. At a quarter past seven sharp, the senior’s homeroom teacher, Mr. Crespy, opened the doors and let everyone in. Some were in their purple class t-shirts, a couple of students wore a onesie to add another celebratory feeling to what lay ahead, and some decided to forgo the idea of school attire entirely and just wore what they would wear on any normal day. But this wasn’t a normal day, was it? It was the last day of school for the class of 2023.
In the previous morning, the roles were assigned and everyone was put into a specific group and had a task that needed careful execution. Of course, this was ignored when not all the supplies were bought, not every person was there, and when other students were coming to school earlier than expected. This provided unprecedented challenges for the seniors, especially since Mr. Matsumoto, the school’s principal, came in as early as the rest of them. Everything planned for his office had to go out the window, especially the plan of wrapping his yoga ball. (Advice to the next year’s graduating class: have someone lure him out so the rest of you can strike!)
While the bathrooms were being taken care of, some students started with HS-5, the freshmen classroom. They began by blocking one entrance, with a few desks, and then stacking some more desks on top, and a couple of chairs on top of that. This was done throughout the whole classroom. One of the seniors, Yumi, who was in charge of ensuring everyone’s desks were moved or unreachable in some way stated “[I] didn’t think it would be this fun and interesting to prank other people and to see their reaction.” This was a shared consensus amongst many seniors.
In HS-4, the sophomore’s classroom, they were gifted the surprise of having many, many, photos of the seniors plastered about. Some were even hung on the lights and other fixtures on the wall so as to make it that much harder to take them down later on. After most of the other parts of the prank were taken care of and more students were trickling in, a few seniors decided to use the last of the saran wrap and wrap a few of the desks and chairs to just add an extra layer of the prank. A common recurring theme throughout the day. To quote Alex (G10) “It was good, kinda underwhelming though.” However, Alex also admitted to being late to school and mostly only saw the clean-up process.
This led to HS-2, the junior’s classroom;the class next in line for their own senior prank day. This room, the epicenter of the senior prank day, required the most effort, with every corner of the classroom filled with an abundance of colorful balloons. This room even involved the help of Ms. Aguilera, as blowing all of those balloons was no small feat. Despite this, most of the guys in the class of 2023 gravitated toward working in this room. Whether it be because they wanted to spend some final moments together or they just really liked balloons, none will ever know. The goal was to blow up as many as possible but who knew the juniors would come to school so early?
Finally, possibly the best for last, a combination of all the rooms, HS-3. Commonly referred to as the annex room, it received special attention for having some balloons, some posters, tables and chairs being stacked, and also saran-wrapped tables and chairs. Who doesn’t enjoy a combination of all the delights of the day? This room took the second most amount of students, requiring an extensive amount of varying skills.
Throughout the morning, from 7:15 a.m. till the end of the day at 2:20 p.m., there remained degrees of the pranks leftover for many to enjoy. Whilst, the seniors were instructed to take all of it down by 8:10 a.m., many of the posters stayed up and a lot of the balloons found a new home in the boy’s bathroom. The seniors didn’t ignore the fact that it was a privilege to be given the chance to release some pent-up stress from a grueling school career and so there was a lot of gratitude expressed throughout the day. Many tears were shed amongst friends and teachers, as they hugged goodbye during their last day of school. (Some of the tears may have also been about the upcoming IB exams!) There were also many bouts of laughter and giggles as the posters were talked about, and Mr. Crespy and Mr. Matsumoto even decided to deliberate on which hairstyle looks best on Mr. Crespy during the last ever homeroom.
That leaves us with HS-1, the senior’s classroom, which was definitely not overlooked. Ms. Aguilera, always the biggest cheerleader for the grade, decorated the room with stars adorning every student’s name framing the top of the whiteboard and balloons writing out “2023”. This was not all that she did, she collaborated with the homeroom teachers, Mr. Patmore and Mr. Crespy, to prank all of the seniors by putting in an intimidating photo of them saying they were watching us. Now we all know to be on our best behavior, even during our last days! And with that, the last balloon is popped, and the class of 2023 signs out and awaits the next day to be all together again: their graduation.
Addisyn Madeen