There have been years where senior pranks didn’t go awry. For example, one year all the seniors lined up to shake hands with Principal John Williams, creating a line all down senior hall. It’s pranks like these administration approves of because nothing inappropriate happened and no one was hurt.

So many times these acts of foolishness are thought to be a staple of the stereotypical American high school. However, when can you remember a successful senior prank from a CHS class before you?

That is due in part to the administration’s hesitance toward allowing the seniors leniency to actually do the senior prank. About 10 years ago, some seniors graffitied numerous different signs around Carmel, which is vandalism, aka, a crime. After that, the administration, understandably, began to crack down on pranks leading to mischief and harm. The trail debacle last year doesn’t help the case for allowing seniors to partake in this fun bonding tradition many other seniors do.

As of right now, senior pranks that are harmless, positive and follow handbook rules are not punishable. But the moment the prank derails and becomes mean, harmful or inappropriate, normal punishment will be enforced. According to Amy Skeens-Benton, Assistant Principal and someone who has been with CHS since she was a student, these misbehaviors means one will face suspension, the inability to walk at graduation or, in extreme cases, expulsion.

Scary? Yes. However this is how those in charge must treat these situations when pranks hurt people’s feelings, create messes for custodians or reflect poorly on the school. As I said earlier, the trust between the administrations and seniors regarding senior pranks has been broken.

So seniors and subsequent classes, it is your job to start rebuilding that trust. This means not doing any senior pranks that lead to something negative. It may even mean doing something positive as a group effort, like going to a women’s softball game till the point there is no more space to fit another person or even doing some unique fundraising effort that benefits the Riley Children’s Hospital and Dance Marathon.

The only way to get to a point where senior pranks again become a CHS tradition is to start with the senior class this year. Trust won’t be built overnight so that means the subsequent classes must follow in this year’s footsteps. Eventually administration will bend the rules to work with students.

We all are Greyhounds, and while this year’s seniors might not get a huge senior prank like everyone has once imagined, it doesn’t mean CHS will never see this tradition again.

The views in this column do not necessarily reflect the views of the HiLite staff. Reach Kelsey Atcheson at [email protected].