Following decades of tradition in high schools across America, as well as many of their Choate predecessors, the Class of 2018 pulled off a senior prank two weeks ago. After several months of planning and delaying, sixth formers staged a walkout at the beginning of School Meeting on Tuesday, April 10, exiting the PMAC in mass as they chanted the school song.
The seniors came back from spring break determined to carry out what some many of them call a rite of passage. This one, though, was not uniformly well received. Many students and faculty took offense to the mass exodus, a gesture that seemed to them less fun-loving and more contemptuous.
School Meeting is one of the rare times when the entire student body assembles. If agendas are often filled with quotidian announcements, the meetings are also designed to celebrate and honor life here—awards are presented, students sing, dance, and play music for their peers. At the April 10 meeting, sixth-former Alan Luo ’18 delivered a speech, a voluntary endeavor known as a Choate Talk, but only after he watched his classmates exit.
Still, many seniors saidthat the prank was not intended to hurt anyone, but rather put a smile on people’s faces. “It wasn’t meant to be a controversial thing. It was meant to be funny, and it was. We had a good time,” said Shamari Harrington ’18. Caden Dumas ’18 said that he was expecting the prank to be taken light heartedly; he said the seniors did not intend to do any harm or offend anyone.
When asked about the thought process that went into the school meeting walk-out, Calvin Carmichael ’18 said, “We decided to pick something fun to do. We wanted everyone to laugh and enjoy it as much as we did. All the kids were laughing, and most people seemed to enjoy it.”
Last Wednesday, on the morning after the prank, Dean of Students James Stanley and sixth-form deans Ms. Nancy Miller and Mr. Mike Velez held a meeting with the sixth form. The faculty members told seniors that many in the community took offense to their prank, and they urged the seniors to be on their best, most respectful behavior in the final weeks of school.
Over the years, senior pranks have ranged from the whimsical to the dangerous. Three years ago, students arranged for a petting zoo to be set up in front of the Humanities Building one morning. Another prank involved wrapping the furniture in the Humanities rotunda in aluminum foil. Campus old timers remember when a car was surreptitiously parked on the Science Center bridge.
Although the School Meeting prank got mixed reviews, many seniors seem to feel that it was much more effective than anything the Class of 2017 managed. “This one already is better than all the business cards that last year’s class put around campus,” Dumas said. “That one wasn’t great, in my opinion.”
As for whether the Class of 2018 has another prank coming, the seniors have neither confirmed nor denied their any future plans, leaving the community to wait and see if they come up with anything else. For the Class of 2018, this prank marks the beginning of a bittersweet end to their time at Choate.
