High school positive pranksters leave their mark

A group of graduating high school students at William Aberhart High School in Calgary got up extra early to leave their mark on classmates Friday morning.

When students arrived at school, they found sticky notes on their lockers with positive messages written on them. The group behind the "positive prank" said they wanted to do something different to ring in their graduation.

"Especially in high school, everyone is really self-conscious and lots of bullying goes on and it's just, it's good to feel important in one way or another," said Hannah Rumpel, one of the students behind the messages.

It's long been a tradition at North American high schools for the graduating class to organize a "senior prank."

Often, these include causing light-hearted chaos at the school by streaking or dressing up in fishermen's gear and running rope throughout the school. 

But for students behind this effort, the goal was entirely different.

"It's our last kind of hoorah to make people feel good about themselves," said Rumpel.

Will the "positive prank" become a tradition?

While the group's members said they had hoped to remain anonymous, word quickly spread around the school about who might be responsible.

So far, the students say reaction to their positive prank has been great.

"It's been really good," Rumpel said. "We've heard lots of different stories about people that were really touched by them, especially teachers as well."

For one of those teachers, the positive prank is something she would like to see become a new graduating tradition.

"You can't imagine what it's like to walk in in the morning and get that little, that little perk," said Sonja Hunter, a teacher at the school.

"Those are the kinds of things that you just say, 'bring it on.' That kind of creativity is beautiful and that's, that's what we want to teach."