Junior vs. senior wars have been a tradition during homecoming week for quite some time. The wars begin on the Monday of homecoming week at 12 am, when seniors will try to “hit” juniors houses/cars and vice versa, typically using toilet paper, eggs, and other substances to make a mess for the other grade to clean up.
Administration sends out an email every year informing the students that if they are caught participating in the wars, they will not be allowed to take part in the homecoming festivities.
Senior principal Josten Oglesby said that in order to keep the students in line when it comes to the wars, there has to be a punishment.
“There has to be some level of consequence when we’re having the quantity of parent emails, phone calls, and police reports being directed at Rockwood Summit, and it occurs during homecoming week, so we can make that connection and have some level of sanction regarding homecoming,” Oglesby said.
Oglesby said that the wars have gotten out of control in the past forcing them to cancel homecoming, but this year was the worst it has been since then.
“This year they got out of control pretty bad. This is the most recent year that things have gotten ridiculous, but there was another year, probably 12 years ago, that we actually had to cancel homecoming because they had gotten that out of control,” Oglesby said.
On the other hand, senior Lilly Wilken said that the wars stayed mild this year and didn’t get out of control.
“I think, especially this year, it’s been very tame compared to previous years. So I feel like if we keep it at that energy level, that no one is vandalizing or damaging anything, it’ll be okay,” Wilken said.
During the wars, students will wear masks and outfits that will make them unrecognizable to cameras or people in case they are caught while performing any acts of destruction or vandalism.
While a lot of students are involved in the wars, some do not enjoy it as much. Junior Lorelei Green said she is against the wars because of the damage her family’s property has received, and their inability to identify the vandals.
“People have ruined our cars during the prank wars. Both of my parents’ cars have been ruined by it and dented, but we didn’t know who did it so we couldn’t get them fixed,” Green said.
Although Green is against the wars more than others, she doesn’t completely think they should be stopped, they just need to be kept more composed.
“I just think it should go back to regular prank wars where it’s just TP, versus all the destructive things that are happening to everyone’s cars and stuff that isn’t theirs,” Green said.