After a common kissing prank staged at Western Canada High School this week appeared to get out of hand, administration at the school say they won’t allow it anymore.
Students gathered at the school on November 1 for a rally in support of the fall sports teams, aimed at building school spirit.
A portion of the event included a prank where a number of the male student athletes are blindfolded and told they would be kissed by student female athletes. Afterwards, they’re told to guess who kissed them.
However, outside of the knowledge of the boys, it’s their mothers who are in fact doing the kissing. It’s also supposed to be a short peck on the cheek or lips, but one couple’s interaction that was captured on video and shared online appeared to go way too far.
Students at the school that CTV Calgary spoke with say the whole thing was an act and she was going through with it as part of the joke, but other students saw it differently.
“I personally don’t think they should be [held] because of how it can be taken so far. This could have been so wrong for the kid because he didn’t know what was going on,” said Juanita Hinestroza, WCHS student.
“It was shocking to see. All the videos showed a completely different perspective and it just looked completely crazy. Everyone took it out of proportion,” said WCHS student Kirsten Murray. “It’s not just Western that knows about it. It’s so many schools now. It’s going to have a bad image on everybody involved.”
She says that the video now going viral are almost worse.
“I have seen so many Reddit posts and threads on Twitter saying completely different things from what actually happened. There are meme accounts posting pictures of things that are total lies. None of this actually happened. It’s just one big [broken] telephone game.”
Although the videos were shot from behind the pair, and don’t adequately show what really happened, staff at the school and at the Calgary Board of Education say they want to make sure that school spirit is preserved at future rallies.
In a statement released on Friday, the CBE said:
“As a system, we have reinforced the inappropriateness of this kind of activity. Regardless of the intent, all school events, like pep-rallies, should be celebratory in nature and promote school culture. They should celebrate student success and ensure dignity of all participants.”
The principal of Western Canada High School also released a message to parents on Friday, taking it one step further by saying that these activities would no longer take place:
“On Thursday, Nov. 2, our school held a pep-rally in support of our fall sports teams. These types of rallies are held to demonstrate and build school spirit. Yesterday’s event included a prank on students that involves blind-folding students and kissing their moms.
The activity was intended to be good-natured; however it did not play out as intended. The event was caught on video by a number of students and has since been shared widely on social media, well beyond our school.
I would like to apologize for the activity, in hindsight, the school regrets how this unfolded. We recognize that these activities are not appropriate and will not be repeated. The school administration has met with the pep-rally organizers to discuss the concerns. We have also reached out to the family involved to provide support. These types of pranks will no longer be allowed to occur and we sincerely regret any embarrassment this has caused.”
Friends of the student at the centre of the prank say he didn’t attend class on Friday.
(With files from Kathy Le)
