It has been a high school rite of passage in New Jersey for decades: the senior prank.
Many seniors bid farewell to their schools in June with some lighthearted mischief aimed at the school staff, their high school building or their fellow students.
In most cases, the pranks are playful and harmless. And in some schools the “pranks” are in name only because students actually coordinate them with school officials.
However, a few pranks in New Jersey have been eye-popping enough over the last few decades to draw headlines and real-life consequences. (See a list of well-known New Jersey pranks below.)
In Middlesex County, South River High School canceled classes last week after approximately 50 seniors got into the building after hours, moved desks and other furniture into hallways and draped toilet paper all over the gym.
The mess was so big, school had to be canceled for the day.
All of the students who pulled off the prank were promptly identified by camera footage, school officials said.
A hallway at South River High School was cluttered with desks and chairs following a senior prank that resulted in the school closing on June 12.Photo courtesy of South River Police Department
They were all offered the same deal by school officials: Pay a $150 fine, perform five hours of community service, skip two end-of-year traditions — the senior clap out and the senior barbecue — or face referrals to police for possible criminal charges.
South River’s prank took place amid a burst of nostalgia for high school senior mischief, fueled in part by a viral TikTok post from a Wisconsin math teacher asking for tales of “unhinged” pranks.
The teacher, Brandon Stremkowski, told NBC’s “Today” show last month that he received 35,000 responses and the topic had especially struck a chord with Generation X.
“Some of these stories go back to the ’80s and ‘90s when things were different and you could get away with a lot more. So it’s been kind of fun for everyone to reminisce, like we’re around a campfire,” Stremkowski told the network.
That was then, but as the 50 South River High School seniors now know, this is now.
Toilet paper and other items are strewn throughout South River High School's gym following a senior prank that resulted in the school closing on June 12.Photo courtesy of South River Police Department
Here are nine other examples of high school senior pranks in New Jersey that drew more notice than perhaps anyone intended or wanted.
Live chickens and ‘verbal abuse’
On the final day of classes at David Brearley High School in Kenilworth in 1998, some students decided to celebrate by overturning trash cans, spraying shaving cream, “verbally abusing” teachers and letting two live chickens loose in the Union County building.
“We thought it was funny,” the student council president told the Star-Ledger at the time.
School officials were not laughing. Thirteen of the school’s 74 seniors were told they would not receive their diplomas until they performed 20 hours of community service apiece.
Some parents criticized the punishment as an overreaction because no one was injured. The seniors met their community service requirement by volunteering at a children’s hospital, among other locations.
Dead deer salute
A 1999 prank involved multiple elements, but hoisting a deer carcass up Montgomery High School’s flagpole was especially problematic.
Four students, all 18 years old, were charged with illegally picking up a deer carcass, which requires a state license, officials said at the time. They found the dead deer on the side of Route 206, not far from the police station.
But that wasn’t all. Around 100 seniors at the Somerset County school were involved in an escalating series of pranks: Dumping manure on the front steps of the high school; peppering an exterior wall with mustard, ketchup and shaving cream; and using their vehicles to block teachers’ cars in the parking lot.
Students avoided vandalism charges by agreeing to clean up the manure. As for the four students who blocked in the teachers’ cars, their vehicles got towed.
‘Operation Nerf’ heart attack
This 2000 prank at Pascack Hills High School in Montvale had a name: Operation Nerf.
Initially, it was supposed to involve throwing thousands of rubber balls down a hallway of the Bergen County school.
Then things escalated. Students let loose a dozen mice and rats in the building along with thousands of crickets, the New York Times reported.
Two fire alarms were sounded, forcing the evacuation of approximately 600 students.
In the midst of it all, the principal collapsed and was taken to a hospital, where a clogged heart artery was discovered and he underwent an angioplasty, according to the newspaper.
Cooking oil crime
Nine students who allegedly greased the Hackettstown High School hallways with $108 worth of cooking oil on the night before final exams in 2005 were charged with third-degree burglary, conspiracy to commit burglary and criminal mischief, police said at the time.
It was a significant escalation over prior pranks at the Warren County school that included letting ducks and rabbits loose in the hallways and wrapping teachers’ vehicles in plastic.
“Once they broke into the school, it was a burglary. At some point the school no longer has a say,” the police chief said at the time, defending the charges.
Students were barred from attending graduation, required to complete 100 hours of community service apiece and collectively reimburse the district for $4,520 in damages, police said.
Rabbit and rooster rampage
Six Morris Knolls High School seniors were charged in June 2010 after allegedly breaking into their Rcokaway school to let loose rabbits, chickens, roosters and mice as part of a prank, police said.
The students also vandalized a bench displaying the name of the Morris County school.
All were barred from attending graduation.
Vaseline vandals
A total of 63 seniors were charged after an overnight vandalism spree in May 2014 at Teaneck High School in Bergen County.
The students upended various furniture and pulled some into hallways, tossed food around the area and smeared Vaseline on doors, drew graffiti around the school. Some used marijuana and other drugs, according to the Bergen County prosecutor’s office.
Charges against 24 students who were 18 or older were downgraded to criminal trespass and criminal mischief, while all but one of the 39 juveniles were admitted to an alternative program involving either community service or a small fine, officials said.
Water gun lockdown
Robbinsville High School in Mercer County was locked down on a Tuesday afternoon in 2015 during a senior prank, officials said.
Members of the senior class brought in brightly colored water guns and were shooting at teachers, faculty and other students, prompting the school to move up a lockdown drill that was already being planned, police said.
Furniture jam
More than a dozen students at Lyndhurst High School in Bergen County got into trouble in 2022 after entering the school at night and moving desks into hallways.
School officials initially were going to ban all 18 from attending the graduation ceremony.
However, they relented after a storm of protest, including 2,800 signatures on a petition.
Dog food drama
Approximately 50 students received in-school suspensions for hanging toilet paper, spreading out shredded paper and putting dry dog food on desks at West Milford High School in Passaic County on June 8, 2023.
They also stacked towers of books and moved chairs around, rolled out wrestling mats in the gymnasium and wrote “messages of endearment” for teachers in a few locations, according to a letter from the high school principal.
Students voluntarily returned to school the next morning to clean up the mess. No items were missing and nothing was damaged, school officials said.
Stories by Rob Jennings
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Rob Jennings may be reached at rjennings@njadvancemedia.com.
Vinessa Erminio may be reached at verminio@njadvancemedia.com.