Lately, seniors have been caught up in making an immediate, but not memorable, impression on the school. Recent pranks have appeared to be a desperate scream for attention, rather than providing the school with a hearty laugh and something to remember. Most remarkably, starting with the senior class of 2008, recent pranks seem to be attempting to attract attention through vulgarity. This year, nude pictures were plastered onto the courtyard tables, following the disappointing legacy of  ‘08's drawing of male genitals and ‘09’s sexual innuendo of the word “hand job”, both also done in the courtyard. This motif of phallic images is tiring. The vulgar pranks have become increasingly immature with each graduating class, certainly failing to meet the standards of more creative pranks of years past.

Due to this sense of legacy, though The Lowell does not support any type of school prank or vandalism, the recent suspension of multiple students for painting the bleachers with their class year is too harsh of a punishment. Unlike the vulgarity in the courtyard, the painting of the bleachers, despite being a type of vandalism, displayed classic class pride. The students should not have been suspended for paying a “tribute” to the school tradition, as the bleachers are painted most years for the Lowell community.

In order to be fair about punishment, it is important to look at the intentions of each prankster and assess whether they meant to offend others and simply get away with vandalizing the school, or if their goal was to show their school and class pride. For the bleacher tradition, a period of community service would have been adequate for the administration to communicate their message towards defacing of school property. On the contrary, a prank meaning to embarrass or disrupt the school environment should be met with tougher consequences. Both youth and adult effort should be put towards curbing more offensive pranks. 

The key issue is that students should not coordinate class pranks that fall into the category of vandalism, a category determined by the cost to the school and the likelihood of offending the community. Instead of following recent classes’ footsteps into immaturity, students should find a single prank for their year that would show class pride that does not disrupt the school atmosphere. If a prank is going to be done, the “legacy” should be clever and in good taste, free of obscenities that disrupt the school and offend the student body. Multiple sexual and inappropriate displays in the courtyard, in reality, state their lack of respect for the rules and public decency, as shown by how the pornographic pictures offend not just the students, but visitors to the school.

Becoming a senior may come with many freedoms, but seniors are also role models who should display impeccable judgement when it comes to respect for the campus and the reputation of the school itself. The most successful senior pranks are done once, planned creatively, and most of all, it should evoke admiration of 18-year-old’s, even adults, not just 12-year-olds.