The senior prank day at Washington International School has been a tradition beloved by seniors ready to celebrate their accomplishment of surviving the International Baccalaureate  Diploma program. 

Most senior prank days included all the seniors coming to school early with water guns ready at drop-off and around campus all day, searching for any prey trying to go about their day. Then maybe they park their cars in front of the carriage house in the afternoon, blast some music and honk their horns after school. All very harmless. But some senior prank days were taken further than the school would’ve liked.

Alex Gatti-Roaf, a WIS senior, was in 8th grade when the class of 2017’s prank was fairly memorable. 

“They built towers out of scaffolding two floors tall in front of the steps to the Triple-A building and had snipers using water guns on top of them. There were Soviet Flags taped to the walls, with the famous Hammer and Sickle,” Roaf said, describing the scene he saw walking into school that prank day morning in 2017. 

Now the Soviet flags are one thing, but the cherry on top was that along with these glaring red symbols of Communism, they had taped photos of the then Upper-School principal Mr. Markus — something the school did not like. 

The senior prank day tradition continued for a year, and then came the class of 2019. Their day began with the usual water gun assaults during drop-off. When the school day began, however, seniors had spray-painted walls to the carriage house. There was a fish hanging by the doorway, and some students, oftentimes, friends of the seniors, were forced to kiss the fish.

Those pranks were already pretty intense, but not only was a fish on campus but a friend from the ocean, a squid, had found its way onto then economics teacher James Bourke’s desk before the school day began. The actions of the seniors may have gotten some administrators angry, but it only prepared them for what happened later. 

On the backside hill of the mansion, the seniors set up a slip and slide and were taking turns going down. Too many people went at once, and a collision resulted in two seniors going to the hospital. Luckily, the two only suffered minor injuries and did not cause any further problems.

After that day, rumors spread around the school that the administration would cancel prank day the next year. It was never confirmed, and the coronavirus pandemic sent us into distance learning at the start of 2020, so no one ever found out whether or not it was officially canceled. Maybe WIS will allow some version of a prank day this year, but I’m sure Mr. Bourke will make sure no sea creatures are involved.

by Jonas Tomkin