Being a senior at ILS has many advantages. There are the fun events like prom, GradBash, senior skip day, graduation, etc, and then there are the exciting privileges like skipping the lunch line, having a senior skip day, and playing jokes on the freshmen. 

Now, it’s incredibly important to help the freshmen in every way. It’s their first time in a high school environment, and sometimes they’ll need some help navigating around or understanding the school. So, whenever they ask for directions or an opinion on a teacher, try your best to assist them in their transition to this new setting. 

However, since they’re freshmen, they also know little to nothing about ILS and how students operate here. Because of this, there’s a fun little prank that the seniors partake in every year: the legend of the fourth floor pool. 

At the beginning of every year, the seniors try their best to convince the freshmen that there is a pool on the fourth floor of the main building. It doesn’t sound too out of the ordinary to hear; it actually would sound pretty legit, if the main building had a fourth floor and if ILS had a pool on campus. The only “proof” of the rumored pool is a ladder that leads to the roof near the side stairwells of the main building.

It isn’t the most wild or crazy prank, but it’s a lovely tradition that always gets a laugh out of people. 

Senior Amber-Marie Carpintero loves it, and said, “When I first told a freshman that they should check out the fourth floor pool, I also told them that they host swimming classes there every Friday. I’m not sure that they believed me, but the confused look on their face was funny enough.” 

Looking at the other side of the joke, it’s quite a fun activity for sophomores to watch the prank that was pulled on them be passed on to the new freshmen. 

Mariam Osman, a sophomore,  said, “My freshman year, I got told by at least three different seniors to go check out the fourth floor pool. I can’t say I ever made the journey, and I’m glad I didn’t. But it is entertaining to watch the same trick be pulled on this year’s freshmen, and see it from an outside perspective.”

After years of watching it, the current juniors are also looking forward to taking part in this infamous prank.

“The fourth floor pool was something I believed as a freshman coming into ILS. It was actually something that I was excited about until I was told that it was fake. Now, going into senior year, I’m definitely planning on doing it to the incoming freshman,” concluded Osman. 

For each grade, the fourth floor pool prank leaves an impact and creates a connection to the school. The classes grow older and progress into older grades, taking with them the memories of being pranked and pranking others. All in good fun, of course.