Students protest graduation ban

Many high school seniors are 18 years old, but that doesn't mean they think like adults: according to neuroscientists, the area of the brain associated with reason and self-control doesn't fully mature until one's mid-20s. Maybe that's why seven kids at East Carter High School in Grayson Kentucky thought it would be funny to release 10,000 crickets into their school early last Thursday morning as a senior prank. According local WSAZ News, the seniors were not allowed to walk in their graduation ceremony on Saturday morning and would not receive their diplomas until they paid a $600 fine.

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Some of the pranksters' classmates came to their defense, "We've been to school with them since we were in diapers," senior Alissa Lawson told WSAZ during a student protest on Friday night where dozens of seniors chanted, "Let them walk [in graduation]" and held signs in support of the "Cricket Clan." "It's not fair to us to not have them there with us," she added. Kentucky State Senator Robin Webb, who once served as class president for East Carter High School, called the decision "overreaching" given that the kids had never had any disciplinary issues before.

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However, officials with the Carter County School District were not amused. "Expenses will continue to rise as cleanup efforts are still underway," Principal Larry Kaiser said in a statement. "It is the stance of the Carter County School District that these actions, while meant to be a prank of sorts, are unacceptable." Kaiser did not respond to Yahoo!Shine's request for an interview.

It turns out this isn't the first time seniors have pulled a cricket prank- it's not even the first time this graduation season. In late April, Fox8 reported that seniors at Brush High School in Lyndhurst, Ohio released crickets and also mice in the cafeteria (because is there anything more hilarious than insects and rodents invading a food prep area?). For good measure, they painted school windows and decorated trees with toilet paper. Those creative types must have been art students.

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A cricket prank in 2010 carried out in the middle of the night led to a student's arrest for burglary (as have numerous other pranks that occurred after school hours or which caused damage to school property.)

Senior pranks have become a rite of passage at many schools probably encouraged by Youtube where you can watch endless videos of amusing and not-so-amusing pranks such as filling school hallways with 100s of cups of water to releasing thousands of rubber bouncing balls onto younger classmates from stairways and balconies. Unfortunately, many popular pranks are destructive and/or have the potential to cause injury and might lead to suspension or other disciplinary action. Note to seniors who actually want to graduate: think costumes, bubbles, and balloons, not live animals, tacks, or super glue.

A tumblr devoted to senior pranks offers this inspiration: "The whole class will be wearing Crocs and Miranda Cosgrove masks." Now, that's funny.

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