The Past and Present: Reflecting on April Fools Pranks

Infamous for the tradition of innocent and not-so-innocent pranks, April Fools’ Day is the one day when the opened doors of Deerfield are shut and locked. Celebrated yearly at the Academy, many have remarked that the pranks have become more creative and sophisticated through the years, but also more damaging and disruptive.

This year has been an especially chaotic year as described by students and teachers alike. According to David Pierce ‘25, pranks in previous years were “stuff that’s harmless and you can undo... and also the little, littler pranks that don’t involve fart bombs,” he said. Bronson Branch ’25 recalled, “The worst prank anyone has pulled on me was stealing my shoes. It was a little annoying at the moment, but kind of funny,” he said. These pranks had the potential to bring the community closer. Branch shared that the severity of the pranks were different this year, sharing that they “kind of crescendoed to a whole new level.” Since last year, Branch began noticing more damaging pranks, including fart bombs, occurring across different community areas. He shared more damaging pranks in addition to fart bombing, such as stealing and misplacing belongings, wasting food, and destroying property also took longer to clean up.

Robert Wickenden ’28 said, “People have to completely move rooms or they lose their wallets and things. I think that’s a bit too much.” Wickenden was not the only one who shared this view on the day’s events. History Teacher John Leistler said, “Whenever you damage people’s property or make someone feel less than, I don’t find it funny. I don’t think it’s a prank... people have to live with the consequences. Someone has to clean up the damage... often not the perpetrators.” The cause for the extremity of this year is hard to pinpoint. Various interpretations from students include the makeup of the community, too much creativity, the introduction of destructive items (e.g. fart spray), and an unusually strong snowball effect of people finding amusement in damaging pranks causing the jokes to get more damaging. In an attempt to clean up the aftermath of the day’s events, the Student Life Office enforced an early curfew for all students and implemented new rules prohibiting fart bombs. About the reaction to April Fool’s Day from the administration, Peirce said, “I don’t think we’ve ever had to go to curfew early before.” The school’s response is unclear to some people. Mr. Leistler said, “I don’t know how the school handled it...Faculty wasn’t told.” Similarly, Wickenden said, “[The school] hasn’t done a lot.” The ultimate question when reflecting upon the events on April 1, 2025, coupled with the Academy’s response, is “what is the path forward?” Some suggestions brought forth by students include talks before April describing the boundaries for pranks, restrictions on the possession of damaging items like fart bombs, and harsher repercussions for negative actions.