Aurora – For 31 years, a hideaway in the rafters of Smoky Hill High School has served as a refuge for select drama students – a secret getaway whose whereabouts were passed down every year from class to class.

Unbeknownst to teachers and administrators, students had hauled up chairs, a radio and candles to furnish the lair above the lights. The room was actually a space created by the vents and walls of the ventilation system, accessible only by perilous traverses across catwalks.

Knowledge about the room had become a sacred Smoky Hill rite until the school newspaper last month revealed the secret. The April 14 article in the Smoky Hill Express prompted administrators to shut down access.

In its wake, newspaper students learned the power of the printed word. Drama students learned that their unsupervised exploits above the rafters could have been deadly.

“It’s probably a pretty good idea to keep the kids safe,” said Brian Pelepchan, 45, one of two teens who created the room during the school’s first year in 1975.

Pelepchan and his best friend, Gary Walker, were sophomores, avid rock climbers and drama- department “techies” who were allowed on the catwalks above the stage.

“We went up into the catwalks and saw this little opening, climbed up the structure and, lo and behold, we found this little cavelike place that we could hang out in,” said Pelepchan, now an engineer with three children who attend Smoky Hill.

Pelepchan and Walker started the log book, which later filled with the names of everyone who had visited the room. Rumors about activities in the room ranged from sex to drugs to rock ‘n’ roll. Students changed the room’s location in the rafters at various times over the years.

The log was found this year by newspaper students who stumbled upon the space while researching a story about things students do that they shouldn’t.

Freshman photographer Evan Hicks was on the catwalks, trying to find lovers smooching, when a drama student asked if he was looking for the secret room.

“You don’t tell a newspaper student that,” said teacher Carrie Faust, the newspaper adviser. “It’s kind of a challenge, don’t you think?”

Her students worked to nail the story, asking drama students about the room’s location and combing the catwalks to find it.

Senior Allie Lemieux along with Hicks wrote a story complete with photos of the room.

Lemieux said she immediately felt the weight of the room’s tradition when she crawled into it.

“All over the walls, people had signed their names,” she said. “You could totally tell teens had been coming up there. There was ash all over the ceiling. They had used smoke from the candle to write on the ceiling.”

The newspaper staff was conflicted about running the story. If the room was outed, it would be shut down. But Faust told them she would have to tell administrators anyway.

“We decided that we report about the school’s history, and this is news about the school,” said Lemieux.

A few days before publication, Lemieux and Faust told activities director Kathy Daly about the room. Within four hours, access was sealed.

After publication, drama students wore black T-shirts with the saying “I know where the secret room is, but I’m not telling!”

“All the drama kids are really upset about it,” junior Bill Setterlind said. “It was sort of a neat thing … It was one of the little things that made the school special.”

Daly and Faust met with the drama department. Students who had used the room were given amnesty. The department was given the log book.

“If the article had come out and was, ‘What a bad thing,’ … we wouldn’t have run it,” Lemieux said. ” … I told the drama students, ‘It wasn’t about ratting you out. It was about showing the cool tradition.”‘

Staff writer Jeremy P. Meyer can be reached at 303-820-1175 or jpmeyer@denverpost.com.