My senior prank was foiled by the school's custodian staff. We drove around at night taking local "for sale" signs from lawns (I realize now this is stealing...but you are dumb when you are 18). We were up all night doing this and then just before dawn covered this schools front lawn with them. We thought is was soooo cleaver....you see the school was so devastated that we were graduating they were putting it up for sale, because they could do no better.

We arrived at school a few hours later to delight in our prank only to discover all the signs had been removed before a single person saw them.

At the time we thought the custodians were poor sports who didn't get the joke..but now I realize they just put an end to our little suburban crime spree.

A prank is something that takes less than 30 seconds to clean up and doesn't permanently damage something. In high school, we put a "Just Married" sign and cans behind someone's car (it was backed into the spot so they couldn't see it) so when they pulled out of the parking lot, everyone noticed. She was mad but in about 10 seconds, she ripped the sign off and drove off in her car... but not before a lot of people saw her. Harmless and no damage, but still funny!

I believe one of the vehicles used in the above noted suburban crime spree was still registered in my name at the time. I remain indebted to the poor sport custodians.

What I find frustrating is that even some fairly benign "pranks" are turned into huge deals by schools these days.
It seems nothing is safe or funny anymore!
7 years ago, as a junior in high school, the senior class above me pulled their senior prank at a school assembly--- their class was sitting all on one side of the gym, and at one point most of their class pulled out bouncyballs and bounced them across the gym at the juniors.
It was funny. It was something i'd never heard of being done before. It took a little bit of cleaning up, but I wouldn't have called it vandalism by any means.
But apparently the administration considered it extremely dangerous, and the incident got a whole heap of kids suspended, not unlike the "Cape 10," even though it was a far less serious offense.
I'm not saying that the Cape kids didn't go too far, but... where do you draw the line between a wacky hijink and a vandalous prank?
And who gets to decide?

I just came across this article and I found it pretty interesting. I was a part of the Gorham High School snow prank earlier this year, along with two of my good friends. I'll gladly tell you why we felt the need to pull a prank.

There had been no Senior pranks worth remembering by previous seniors in our school. The three of us wanted our class prank to leave a mark, being remembered for future generations. In other words we wanted to "set the bar" for future senior pranks in our school.

Pop Culture may have had something to do with it as well. Growing up, watching MTV's High School Pranks, Scandals, and Controversies, I envied the credit that many of the pranksters had received after accomplishing their doings. However, the main reason we pulled this prank was for bragging rights. I can tell people that I shut down my High School for a day, not by calling in a bomb threat or for bringing a gun to school, but for carefully planning out a harmless scheme that undermined the school and the law.

After pulling the prank, many of the teachers in my school have more respect for me. Teachers that have never taught me before now know my name and acknowledge me in the halls.

A class prank is often how a class is remembered by others. Unlike the "Cape 10," who's class and prank will be remembered as being careless and destructive, our class and prank will be remembered for being ingenious, clever, and careful.