Senior Pranks

Spring is in the air in Munich. Monday morning on my way to work we had our first April Shower. It was 75 degrees and sunny this weekend. Birds are singing, green grass is growing, and early spring flowers are blooming. Wonderful!

            Spring is also the time when the seniors at the school go on study leave to prepare for their graduation exams. Today was the last day of classes for the seniors, and they went out in style! Apparently senior pranks are common on their last day, and these seniors didn’t disappoint.

            Walking into school this morning from the bus stop in the parking lot, the seniors had filled the tunnel that connects the parking lot and the school grounds with foam. Lots and lots of foam. Filled to the top with foam. Luckily the groundskeepers had plowed a path through the foam for us to walk through, but the foam was still up to our ankles. 

            Outside, the students had roped off parts of the paths leading into the buildings. They had taken a few garbage cans and put them on the roof. They had also rented a large blow-up soccer ball for the students to jump inside.

 Trashcans on an overhang

Blow-up soccer ball jump

            In the buildings, the students went all-out. They had placed cups of water in the hallways and on the stairs so people couldn’t walk through it without spilling the water. They had saran-wrapped doors shut, taped off doors, zip-tied chairs together to block stairwells. In one of my Cooperating Teacher’s classroom, the seniors had covered everything in aluminum foil. In my other Cooperating Teacher’s classroom, the seniors had covered everything in post-it notes. 

 Water in cups in the hallway

 Water in cups on the stairs

 Chairs zip-tied together to block a stairwell (possible fire hazard?)

 Chairs saran-wrapped together in the hallway

 Aluminum foil room

 Lockers covered in post-it notes in a room

Post-it notes on the white board

            In a few classrooms, the desks and chairs were taped and saran-wrapped together. In another classroom, the room was filled with balloons. One teacher had his computer hacked and a message to him was played over and over. The seniors had also taken the couches from the teachers lounge and put them in their study area. 

 Desks stacked together and taped

 Overturned tables

            Needless to say, it was amazing! And the staff were having just as much fun as the students going around to different rooms to see what had been done. The seniors then cleaned up everything by second period. As long as nothing was damaged and everything got cleaned up, the staff didn’t seem to care at all. 

            It’s fun traditions like this that make a school more than just a learning environment, it makes it a community, a family.  And I’m really glad I got to see the festivities of this family.