Senior brings dog to school for supposed senior prank

It is Friday morning and senior Dakota Mell is running late. By this point in the year, Mell is no longer bothered by receiving tardies and decides to go straight to his first period. Passless, he arrives to his Government class carrying his backpack in one hand, and his dog in the other.

In an attempt to be a part of what Mell thought to be the senior prank of the year, he brought his Yorkshire Terrier, Ivy, to class with him.

Flashback to earlier that week, Mell had read on one of the many senior prank Twitter accounts that the class of 2016’s last hurrah would be bringing their dogs to school on the following Friday.

“I wasn’t going to do it,” he explained. “But then I planned it out Thursday night and then Friday morning I brought her to school.”

It just so happened that Mell arrived late, so he was completely unaware of the fact that nobody else was participating in this prank. “I thought a bunch of people were going to do it,” he said. Upon arriving to class, he realized this was not the case.

Mell’s first hour teacher, Tana Berrelleza, was both surprised and alarmed to be met with a dog in her classroom. “Dakota walks in with his dog, such a cute dog, and the only thing that sparked my attention was the fact that there was a dog in my classroom and that usually doesn’t happen,” she said.

Mell explained that he had planned to take his dog home if his teacher made him, but her reaction made him think he was in the clear. “Mrs. B was petting her and thought she was cute,” he said. “She was joking [when she said] that she wasn’t going to call Mr. Greene.”

But Mell was definitely not out of the woods yet. Berrelleza proceeded to call Assistant Principal Joe Greene and before Mell knew it, he and his dog were being taken to the office by security.

“Mr. Greene told me to go to the office and just ripped me a new one and then he suspended me,” Mell explained.

Despite the fact that Mell intended it to be a harmless joke, Greene explained that there are no exceptions when it comes to senior pranks.

“Nobody really gets to slide,” he said. “Just about any prank is going to get you suspended, I would think, but the severity really matters.”

Had the entire senior class participated in this prank, it is likely Mell would not have been the only one punished. “I understand where [Greene] was coming from, but I still think it was kind of unfair,” Mell said. “After he yelled at me, he pet the dog.”

Mell’s suspension lasted only the day of his infraction, and he and his four legged friend were sent home before the end of the day. “I was back the next Monday under strict surveillance,” he said.
“I heard that people were talking about bringing a dog,” Berrelleza explained. “I think the rest of the school understood it was not going to happen.”

However, Berrelleza mentioned that Mell is “a different kind of student and decided to go ahead and do it.”

As of now, the majority of the senior class has not participated in a prank, but if they do Mell is not likely to be a part of it. “If I get caught doing another senior prank, he’s not going to let me walk,” he said. “If we do a senior prank, and he starts calling people to his office, I’m the first one.”

Whether or not the 2016 senior class will partake in a final prank is unknown, but Mell certainly will not be bringing his dog to school again anytime soon.