Validation or vandalism?

Names with an asterisk* have been changed to protect the anonymity of the student so they could speak freely of their roles in the events discussed.

Midnight struck on Aug. 28, and with toilet paper, red glitter and red streamers in hand, Sophia Smith*, senior, and her friends set out for the night.

Stopping at their pre-assigned addresses of sophomore girls, Smith and her friends vandalized each house with their supplies and left messages on poster board and sidewalk chalk to “welcome” the sophomores to HHS the night before Sophomore Orientation. At houses all over the Hopkins area, groups of senior girls were doing the same thing— continuing the years-long senior tradition.

Before she left for the night, Smith’s parents warned her of the legal implications that this tradition had. The fear of such consequences remained in Smith’s mind as she proceeded with her friends.

“My parents scared the actual crap out of me before I even did it. They told me, ‘If you get in trouble, know this is a crime.’ You’re not necessarily vandalizing houses, but it could potentially go that far. In the student handbook this is considered a form of harassment,” Smith said.

As she cast toilet paper over trees, Smith thought back to her own sophomore year.

“I didn’t get TP’d personally as a sophomore, and I felt like I missed out on the experience, and I wanted to give that to the sophomores,” Smith said.

At another house miles away, Emma Jones,* senior, was having second thoughts about participating in the tradition.

“I thought it was kind of stupid. I didn’t really understand why we were doing it, but I just kind of went along with it for the first time and then decided to break off,” Jones said.

Though Jones stopped, many groups of seniors continued through the night. As the sun rose on the morning of Sophomore Orientation, sophomores and their families awoke to their trashed yards.

While some sophomores enjoyed the prank, parents and administrators expressed frustration and concern with the tradition. With pictures of vandalized homes being posted by parents on social media, many seniors began to see the negative consequences of their tradition.

“In the morning, one of the posters got posted on Facebook. It was one of our group’s posters, so we got kind of freaked out that something bad would happen, and we started regretting it a little,” Jones said.

As the school year began, many seniors and sophomores began to forget about the events of the previous week. When August arrives, however, many juniors will prepare to deface the incoming sophomores’ houses, continuing the cycle. In two years, the sophomores who were just vandalized will be the ones to continue the tradition.

“I think I would do it as a senior to keep the tradition alive…but I know there were some legal issues and offensive things and I wouldn’t want to do anything to hurt anybody,” said Sally Reed, junior. “I actually thought [getting TP’d] was super cool because I felt special that the seniors knew me well enough to be comfortable to TP me and trash my yard and put pumpkin everywhere. “

Bullinger believes that there are more inclusive and positive ways for seniors to initiate soph0mores into HHS each year.

“It’s not an attractive tradition, and again maybe it goes back to not wanting to be the class that stops this tradition, but I think you can still change the tradition,” Bullinger said. “You can change what it means to welcome or indoctrinate the sophomores into the school without being emotionally or physically harmful.”