REVIEW: Catlin Gabel senior pranks ranked
By Elise Kim ‘25
Courtesy of Youtube, CatlinSpeak, and Chillicothe R-II School District
Photo by Elise Kim ‘25
The beginning of April tragically signifies the end of spring break, but spirits are lifted as winter rests its frosty head and the winds of spring flow through the campus of the Catlin Gabel School (CGS). Students only had to walk under the large pale pink cherry blossom trees or witness the return of the lordly geese, their beaks raised defiantly in the air, to know that spring had finally arrived.
The joy and excitement could not have been felt more than from the senior class, who have enjoyed recent privileges such as getting to attend only one C&C a week, and free seating choices during assemblies.
Amidst the blooming happiness, however, there is mischief in the air as seniors scheme about how they will leave their high school feeling rather foolish with their own practical prank.
This article will give a holistic and unapologetic review from worst to best of some of the most memorable and recent senior pranks using the following criteria:
Creativity: Was the idea original and come out of a high schooler’s brain, or could the prank show up on the first page of funnyseniorpranks.com?
Humor: This criterion is pretty self-explanatory. Did the prank cause some laughs without harming anyone or anything in the process? Yay, funny! Causing expensive and extensive damage to the CGS campus, leaving facilities to clean up the mess? Not so funny.
Execution: Did the idea of the senior prank match the final product? Did it have the intended effect on the unsuspecting prankees?
Interested in learning about senior pranks from generations of students past? Want to learn more about recent students’ visions for a practical joke? One must simply read on….
The Unipiper!!! No…wait….let’s just…leave chalk drawings…yeah…..
Former senior class presidents Oliver Chally and Mahala Lambert were already in a tenuous situation when it came to designing the senior prank, mostly due to the “debacle” of the former senior prank (which we will get to soon). The two had sat through several meetings with CGS’s Academic Dean of Students, John Harnetiaux, who pressed the importance of conducting a senior prank that would not involve damage to the campus.
According to Chally, the original plan was to hire The Unipiper or “another similar bagpiper” to prance, or in this case, wheel around students and faculty serenading them with melodious, high-pitched reels and jigs alike. Eventually, the Unipiper and the class president duo informally scheduled a date for the bagpiper to come and wreak havoc on campus: 2 days before their last day of school.
The Unipiper in action.
Courtesy of The Unipiper YouTube Page
Tragedy struck this senior prank, however, when The Unipiper suddenly backed out. Chally stated that, regrettably, the unicycling, bag-pipe-playing performer never signed any formal documents that would have obligated him to take the trip to the CGS campus. Thus, the senior class was left scrambling the day before the prank empty-handed.
Panicked, Chally and Lambert convened with a friend, and fellow senior, Claire Druker, to do some internet searching and brainstorming, desperate for any sort of last-minute prank idea. Finally, they decided on leaving chalk designs that were emblematic of “Class of 2024” all over campus.
“We put it [the idea] in the Snapchat group chat for the class, and we were like ‘team, we are so sorry. The UniPiper fell through…we're just gonna do chalk everywhere,’” said Chally.
The message through the group chat was sent at “around 5 pm” and stated that the plan was to meet on campus at 11 PM that night. With such late notice, Chally and Lambert did not expect the extraordinary way in which the senior class rallied together. He estimated that “at least 30 people” came to help out to make the last-minute senior prank a reality.
“During the prank, the vibe was kind of great. We were just so impressed and shocked with the amount of people who showed up on such late notice. They were all bringing things from home, they were doing everything they could,” said Chally.
On the flip side, he explained that when you have as many people participating as they did, some students inevitably veered the senior prank off-course. Some extraneous elements were harmless, such as a poster production team or a configuration of construction flags in the shape of 2024 on the Quad grass.
Some other parts of the prank went awry, according to Chally. Students began to stack the tables and benches in the Quad on top of each other, and scribbled messages on the sides of the Lower Library and the Math building. A trash can also found itself wedged between the tree near Vollum.
The senior class presidents woke up to a torrent of angry emails from Harnetiaux, Aline Garcio-Rubio, and Kitty Firth stating, along the lines of, according to Chally, “you’ve messed up campus and now you need to fix it.” This meant the two senior class presidents came to school early to help wash away the writing on the walls and return the various stacked furniture to their rightful places.
In addition, the parents and students of the senior class also received an email detailing the damage that was done following the prank.
Because facilities and the class presidents began to clean up the aftermath from the prank much earlier than most CGS students roll out of bed and get to class, only the chalk written in Shauff and on the library steps remained.
“Not only did we have a panic because they [CGS administration] were angry, it also meant that the prank itself didn't really work because no one saw it…” said Chally. “So that was unfortunate.”
Based on the information gathered, here is the rating:
Creativity ★★☆☆☆
The idea of the chalk drawing prank in itself was not original, as Chally stated, they scanned through “different lists of senior pranks that could be done on short notice” online. I will, however, give two stars for the small improvisation elements that were added to the chalk prank, such as the arrangement of the flags into the shape of 2024, and the various posters. However, since the only aspect CGS students saw of the prank was the chalk, this had minimal effect on the rating.
Humor ★★☆☆☆
The chalk prank doesn’t immediately strike someone as very humorous. Wholesome? Yes. As for the table towers and trash cans nestled in trees, it is not humorous enough for it to be worth the amount of trouble it later caused facilities and the senior class presidents to clean up. In addition, if students were to be met with stacked tables all across the Quad, most wouldn’t start keeling over with laughter. One would simply think, “Huh, that’s strange,” and continue on with their day.
Execution ★☆☆☆☆
This prank somehow managed to fail not once but twice, with the untimely dropping out of the Unipiper, and the swift cleanup of the second attempt before the majority of students had arrived on campus. One star is granted for the fact that the chalk drawing plan of the prank was carried through in this last-ditch attempt at a senior prank.
Parking Prank Gone Wrong A.K.A The Chevy Volt incident:
The genesis of this prank emerged victorious from other devious ideas of placing live animals in classrooms, and rearranging teachers’ offices. According to a past CatlinSpeak article, there had been numerous parking violations throughout that year, which sparked “many all school emails and assembly announcements.” The idea of artfully arranging various senior vehicles throughout campus was as former senior class president George Pritchard stated, “a way to poke fun at that a little bit.”
After much discussion through “various emails and Instagram messages”, the prank was set in motion on the misty morning of April 7, 2023. Students were instructed to arrive at school at 7:30 AM and park somewhere near or on the Upper School that would elicit some laughs. In addition, they were warned that blocking paths used by facilities or causing physical harm would get them in trouble with CGS admin.
Upon discovery of “lava tubes underneath Shauff circle and the potential risk of a sinkhole”, the prank was swiftly shut down by facilities and CGS administration. The around 20 student participants moved their cars back to their rightful places in the gravel lot.
Just one car couldn’t make its journey back off campus, as it was lodged deep within wet mud of the grass on the main quad. Former senior Maddie O’Brien, in an effort to follow instructions, thought it would be a good idea to park on the grass, so her car wouldn’t block the many intersecting stone paths in the quad. Soon enough, no matter how much O’Brien tires spun in reverse, the car only sank further into layers of mud.
Eventually, the vehicle was pushed out of the grass by a conjoined team of facilities, students and faculty. Throughout that day, the large divots the Chevy Volt’s front tires left behind were gradually filled up by facilities.
The infamous Chevy Volt tracks lodged deep within the CGS Quad grass.
Courtesy of Sam Bailey ‘23 from CatlinSpeak
After the removal of the car, former senior class presidents Pritchard and Mazli Mehr discussed the prank with the CGS administration and faculty members, who later informed them that, contrary to the seniors belief, the prank had not received approval. This senior prank caused a new standard for how the pranks are conducted, as the class presidents now are strongly encouraged to get approval from facilities as well as administrative members such as John Harnetiaux.
Creativity ★★★★☆
I would say overall this was a highly creative prank idea, mostly because it was so personalized to the recent parking scandals. The Class of 2023 had been involved in many parking incidents, and thus doing a prank involving one last major parking violation would be the perfect “last hurrah” to end their time at CGS.
Humor ★★★☆☆
The idea in of itself is definitely very humorous, as again it nods to the Class of 2023’s notorious lack of following parking guidelines. The prank, in execution, ended up being humorous in an unintentional way. Every student who walked through the main quad could see the Chevy Volt sticking out on the stone pathway. However, it caused damage to CGS’ grass on the main quad, which remained for many subsequent months. In addition, the discussions and faculty/administrative reactions to the prank has put a damper on the humorous aspect.
Execution ★☆☆☆☆
The rating for execution is low for this prank as there were multiple miscommunications between the former seniors. It was not communicated to O’Brien that she wasn’t allowed to park her car on the main quad on the grass. The senior class presidents failed to get approval from facilities and the administration. And similarly to the prank of the Class of 2024, it was shut down before CGS students could see. The only mark that was left from this prank were the front tires of the Chevy Volt.
Parking prank #2: Gravel dump in the faculty lot
Let’s bust out those low-rise jeans, listen to some Britney Spears, and rewind to the early 2000s, when CGS Summer Camps Director and Head of the varsity women’s soccer team Chris Dorough (Class of 2003) was in high school. According to Dorough, students were previously allowed to park in what is now the faculty lot or what he called “the math parking lot,” before they were moved that year to what we now know as the gravel lot.
“So, the students used to get to park on the concrete, and they got all upset about it,” said Dorough. “And they moved on the year prior to the Cabell lot, and so they brought in gravel [to the faculty lot] and made it the new gravel lot.”
Dorough stated that this prank was essentially a sort of rebellion against the CGS administration’s decision on moving the student parking lot all the way to the gravel lot. The gravel was used as a means of reclaiming what was formerly theirs.
As with most pranks in this review, the aftermath was to say the least messy. On the last days of school as CGS students were cleaning up campus, all the seniors were called to the faculty lot, given shovels and had to remove all the gravel.
Creativity ★★★☆
This prank was certainly original and sort of taking revenge on the CGS administration, which is why I am giving this prank a favorable rating. It made an effort to personalize the prank to an event that had affected the class that year. The dropping off of an actual gravel truck was also the cherry on top of the cake.
2. Humor ★★★☆
Overall, very humorous and it certainly comes with its own shock factor. However, again, the humor, in my opinion, was short-lived as all the former seniors had to spend their last days of school shoveling all of the gravel out.
3. Execution ★★★★☆
This is our highest ranking so far. There was a clear plan and the seniors executed on it. If the original plan was to dump gravel and turn the faculty lot to what the senior thought it rightfully should have been, they certainly succeeded.
CGS x OES collab prank: A School day on rival turf
It was just another normal school day for Upper School history teacher Peter Shulman, as he walked over to the Vollum building to teach his first class of the day. Little did Shulman know that that was no ordinary day for when he opened the classroom door he found a room full of students he had never seen before.
He soon found out that the students were seniors from OES who had completely exchanged their school schedules with the CGS students.
Shulman expressed appreciation for having this class of students he had never seen before. He can’t remember what he had taught in the class as it certainly wasn’t spent “going over the reading.”
“It was fun,” said Shulman. “ I enjoyed meeting these other kids and hopefully that was the same over at OES.”
He stated that this was “the best prank by far” in his 22 years of teaching, describing it as “creative, clever and funny”.
Creativity ★★★★★
As already stated by Shulman, the prank was highly creative and original as it collaborated with students at OES in order to make it happen. The idea was the perfect example of “less is more”. It was a relatively simple plan that had a very large impact on campus.
Humor ★★★★☆
First of all, this prank is hilarious mainly because it is something that is so unexpected for the teachers. And unlike some of the pranks in this review, where it ends up only being humorous to the senior pranksters, this prank was also amusing for the teachers as well. Additionally, there was no chalk on the walls to scrub off, or damage done to student and faculty spaces on campus. There wasn’t any sort of mess left for faculty and facilities to clean up, which makes for a high ranking on this criteria.
Execution ★★★★★
This was spot on as according to Shulman there were no reports of any sort of misbehavior with the students. All the students were able to sit in their new classes with the schedules they exchanged.
Kidnap Day….or not?
In the spring of 2003, CGS students were wrapping up their semesters. Among them was CGS’ Upper School Theater Director Elizabeth Gibbs who was finishing up her junior year. Gibbs was sitting in her science class when suddenly all the seniors led by then CGSA president Whitney Herron Smith blew horns and shook their tambourines. They screamed, according to Gibbs, “Yeah it’s Kidnap Day!! It’s Kidnap Day!! Leave class! Get on the buses!!!!”
Kidnap Day, what is now Takeaway Day, got its name for the fact that “it was a legitimate surprise” to faculty and all non-seniors alike. How it would go was the seniors would “kidnap” the rest of the CGS students and they would be taken to some fun-filled wonderland of amusement. Gibbs stated that on previous Kidnap Days they would be taken to Bullwinkle’s or Oaks Amusement Park for the day.
“You had no idea Kidnap Day was coming,” said Gibbs. “Unlike now where you can tell.”
The entire Upper School, as one can expect, was bubbling with excitement. Moments later, CGS students rushed down “the grassy hill” (the CAC building hadn’t been constructed yet) to where three yellow buses sat in a row right alongside the middle school field. There were even “signs on each bus for where each class should go.”
The students climbed onto the bus, bouncing in their seats with anticipation for the fun day they had been promised.
“We were sitting there, and it’d been about five minutes and somebody goes, ‘Where are the drivers?” said Gibbs. “And there were no bus drivers.”
It was precisely at this moment, that the seniors, to all the students' shock, drove past the buses, saluting and waving at them before disappearing to enjoy their senior skip day. The students then, realizing they had been fooled, climbed off the buses and headed back off to their classes.
Dorough, a participant in the senior prank, stated that the prank worked so well because they had full support from faculty and facilities. For instance, since facilities were “on board” they were able to arrange the buses down by the gym. All the seniors also organized a couple of cars to be parked in the bus lot, ready to drive by and say “Sayonara” to their fellow CGS students.
According to Dorough, he remembers enjoying a nice day at Sauvie’s Island with his senior class.
Creativity ★★★★★
This was the most creative and carefully crafted prank I’ve ever heard of. I thought it was original in the best sense as it focused on fooling the rest of the non-senior students instead of messing with faculty members. I really liked how the prank sort of merged traditions by using Kidnap Day as the main bait to lure CGS students to the closing trap. Similarly to the CGS and OES student swap, the prank worked so well because it was simple and had very few moving parts.
Humor ★★★★★
This prank is by far the most hilarious of all. It’s the sort of prank that slapped the other non-seniors across the face with the realization that what they thought was their cherished Kidnap Day was, in reality, simply a day the CGS students had been fooled.
Execution ★★★★★
Execution was top notch, as there wasn’t anything that went awry. This is mainly because the plan was so simple, and easy to execute. The seniors wanted the other students to be utterly shocked, and this was certainly the case. Just as Kidnap Day was completely unexpected, so was Senior Prank Day.
“It succeeded so well because we so badly wanted it to be true that we were really ready to believe it,” said Gibbs. “We were all completely taken in.”
The impossible situation is that most senior class presidents have to get approval from faculty and facilities in order to stay 100% out of trouble. This sort of defeats the purpose of a true prank, as a major part of it is the element of surprise.
“The senior prank in general is terrifying because it’s the worst possible situation to find yourself in. Like success in the senior prank is nearly impossible,” said Chally.
CGS has seen its notable pranks over the years, from harmless, cute chalk drawings to more sinister revenge pranks. This we all know, but one question we must ask ourselves is: what will students come up with this year?