MICHAELA THIKESON

Water balloons, duct tape, memes and superheroes…the annual Prank Week was no surprise, yet SMS girls were definitely presented with the unexpected. This Prank Week was one to remember for its integration of teachers, learners and the Class of 2022. It was an eventful and a light-hearted time before the storm of the November exams. 

On Monday the Grade 11s took part in the ‘Anything but a bag’ challenge where they had to think of other ways to carry their books around – from trolleys and dustbins to laundry baskets and various other items were spotted. They used Cellotape, duct tape and cling wrap – any kind of tape you can imagine – to close the office doors, preventing the teachers from coming out, and to block the gate near  Mrs Schoeman’s class. As a bit of a bonus, they also wore sunglasses to school just to create their own vibe and annoy the teachers. 

None of these pranks compared to what they had in store for Mr Daniel Tengey, and the Grade 11s brought out the big guns. During break time in his classroom, they had got the police to pretend to arrest him for the apparent possession of ‘drugs’. They filled bags with sugar and planted these ‘drugs’ all over his classroom. They got the police to search his class and once they found these drugs, he was immediately under arrest. They put him in handcuffs and walked him all the way to the police van that was waiting for him. After what must have felt like an eternity for Mr Tengey, they finally told him that it was all just a prank but unfortunately he was not at all impressed. The Grade 11s then realised that they had pushed their limits too far. 

For Tuesday they printed out several memes using sneaky pictures that had been taken of the teachers throughout the year. They came to school dressed in a combination of summer and winter uniforms as well as their track suits. During the day they also played random ads over the intercom (including a Spotify subscription advertisement). 

On Wednesday the girls came to school and changed into 70/90 gym-wear from the 90s which consisted of colourful leggings and a one-piece swimming costume or just their most colourful gym outfits in which they proceeded to play a game of soccer in their PET period. They created a quiz for the staff where they took common phrases and quotes from the teachers and told them to match the quotes to the respective teachers. To end the day, they secretly put duct tape over the sensors of the teachers’ computer ‘mouses’ preventing them from operating their computers.  This probably had Mr Muller going crazy trying to figure out what ‘technical issue’ this could have been. 

Finally on the last day of Prank Week 2021, the Matric Class of 2022 pulled out all the stops to make their last pranks as memorable as possible.

They started off by stringing Mr Van Wyk’s office, connecting all sorts of strings from one corner to another making it impossible for him to enter and completely covering his chair in toilet paper. They stuck memes of Man United all over his office seeing that they had just lost their previous match against Liverpool.

They used pictures of Ms Van Eeden’s dog and printed out ‘Lost Dog’ flyers. They also ended up removing her number plate from her car and hiding it from her – only they will know how they managed to do that.

They used fake insects and rats and placed them on the teachers’ chairs, so once they pulled their chair out to sit, they had the fright of their lives. The ladies wore clothing items such as blazers and sports jackets from our neighbouring brother school, St Andrew’s, as well as Grey.

Finally, for what seemed like the main event, the ladies totally stretched their creative minds and brainstormed what was an enjoyable game of “Red-light Green-light” that was inspired by the popular Netflix show, Squid Game. They were able to include their own creative twist and add their own bit of extra fun to it.  Mrs Marais, Mr Van Coller, Mrs Stumpfe and Mrs Du Toit were among the first group to kick off the game. Subsequent to the first few rounds, an announcement was made that all other learners could join and boy, did things get messy! 

When it started raining, Mr Van Wyk took the hosepipe and Mrs Marais fetched the water balloons. It was later discovered that Mrs Marais and Mr Van Coller had planned quite an attack on the ladies – they weren’t prepared to go down without a fight. In the midst of the chaos and laughter,                    Mr Van Wyk was in the centre of the quad, chasing down students with a wet mop. It was great to see the serious principal let loose and join in on the fun. 

Towards the end of the day, it was revealed that there is a celebrity on our campus, Henry Danger, aka Mr Henry van Coller. Shocked at the fact that his secret got out, fans burst into his class, excited at the presence of such a hero. Pictures were taken and his autograph was in high demand.  Maths Teacher by day, crime-fighting hero by night – Mr Van Coller’s secret was out.

The spectacular day ended with an enjoyable performance of the Wildcats from High School Musical in the quad and unlike any regular day, learners weren’t at all eager to go home. Fun in the rain together with their fellow learners and teachers was the best possible way to end off the week. This Prank Week was definitely one for the books.