High school is known for its dances, football games, spirited rallies, and rebellious senior pranks.

Senior year without senior pranks is just unfathomable. It is a part of what makes high school so memorable.

Just last year, Cal High seniors let loose buckets of crickets on to the third floor of the main building.

For months after the prank, students and teachers could still recall hearing the crickets hidden in the walls and unknown places of their classrooms.

Afterwards, whenever there was a really awkward silence in the classroom, a hidden cricket would chirp at the most hilarious moment.

Cal’s graduating class of 2008 had a  prank that was out of this world, literally, because it could be seen from space.

An anonymous prankster mowed a large phallic shape into a then grass football field. Seniors from that class say they could see the image in the grass on Google Maps.

A few Cal students recall some of their friends’ senior prank in a local school, when they transformed their school into a beach.

With the principal’s approval of the prank, the seniors went to work agreeing to clean up their mess afterwards.

They obtained buckets upon buckets of golden sand and completely covered their entire first floor.

They threw in a few beach balls, umbrellas, towels and had their own senior beach day.

High school without these troublesome pranks and gags simply wouldn’t be the same. For generations, high schools have always had senior  pranks, administrators and school boards have never successfully eliminated them.

Teachers and administrators were all kids once and remember their senior prank.

Who are they to take away another generation’s key high school memories?

Other schools have pulled off successful pranks as well. One year, San Ramon Valley High seniors  unbolted the lunch tables and benches and tied them to the roofs of their school.

San Ramon seniors are also known for sneaking into the science building and letting all the mice free.

Senior pranks are a way for the graduating class to work together as one large family. It is representing their friendship and ties they had formed through four years together. Senior pranks are a way for the class to go out with a bang.

Everyone always looks forward to the pranks.

It’s something that can be remembered with a smile and a good laugh when reminiscing about the good old high school days.

But some senior pranks go too far and have serious consequences.

At McClatchy High in Sacramento, 30 seniors were banned from their graduation ceremonies last year when their senior prank went awry.

The students sprayed profane graffiti around campus, and smeared eggs and peanut butter all over the school’s hallways.

This was not only vandalizing the school property, but went as far as affecting the students when kids with peanut allergies were sent to hospitals with severe reactions.

The school tried to call in advance to warn the students with allergies but it was too late for some. The prank cost the school over $5,000 of property repairs to clean up the prank.

Heritage High in Brentwood felt the sting of their senior prank last year when a helpless animal was involved.

Eighty of Brentwood’s students spray painted most of their campus with washable red paint.  But the prank went too far when a senior girl chained an innocent six-month old lamb to a pole and left it there over night, leaving it dehydrated.

Administrators were furious and suspended more than 50 students for five days, causing them to miss finals.

This was devastating to some of those students because they needed to take their exams in order to graduate.

In addition to being forced to clean up their failed seniors prank, many of the suspended students were barred form graduation ceremonies.

Senior pranks are memorable and fun, but should only be done when they are fun, light-hearted and can be admired by students, teachers, and parents alike.

If the prank involves vandalizing school property or potentially harming other students, teachers and even barnyard animals then they should be avoided.

If done cleverly, a good prank will be the perfect way to end the last four years of hard work.