Ever since the class of 2014’s senior class prank of stealing hall passes, teachers have upped their uniqueness to ensure they are easy to identify and never stolen again.

Walking down the hallway with one of these strange passes may trigger some odd glances from other students, but teachers have their reasons for these weird passes. “Every single teacher in the building…if they see, a hall pass that is a log, it’s like ‘Oh, this is Luna’s,’” Spanish teacher Mr. Eric Luna Martin said.

If a fellow Red Knight is carrying around a log with a face, it is, in fact, the poop log of Christmas, and it’s Luna Martin’s hall pass. “As a hall pass, it’s something funny or it’s like an inside joke between the students and me,” Luna, who teaches his students about the mythological creature that poops during Christmas, said.

The choir room has interactive hall passes including two ukuleles, a microphone, and a tambourine. Choir teacher Ms. Nancy Stockhaus faced some struggles in the hall pass game last semester when some old album covers she had tried to use as passes fell apart. Stockhaus found a solution when she ventured to the thrift store and came upon a great discovery: ukuleles. “I saw this cute little, like, blue ukulele, and I was like ‘This would make a really good hall pass––a little more sturdy and fun,’” Stockhaus said.

The students have a lot of fun with the instrumental hall passes as well. “There’s a freshman that likes to go use the restroom during warmups and I always say ‘Seems like you always go during warmups.’ He goes ‘I use this and I warm up in the bathroom,’” Stockhaus said.

Science teacher Ms. Lisa Bargas is also known to have unique hall passes. She currently has her hall passes on the backs of laminated periodic tables. However, it wasn’t always that way. “When I saw everyone else’s hall passes, I felt like I had to step it up,” Bargas said.

She recalls finding the inspiration to create a unique pass by seeing a small, orange soccer-cone being used at BSM. “My favorite pass that I ever had was a picture of Mr. T’s (American actor) face,” Bargas said.

Math teacher Mr. Bruce Becker is another person who enjoys adding a fun element to the otherwise boring concept of hall passes. For the last four years, he has used real bowling pins. “It’s kind of nice to have something playful and something that you don’t normally see every day,” Becker said.

When he taught middle school, Becker even used rubber chickens as his hall pass. Becker came up with the idea to create the unique passes while he was at a surplus store, Ax-Man, with his friend. “We would be browsing the aisles and he would pick up something ridiculous and say: ‘This would make a great hall pass,’” Becker said.

Another thing that Becker looks for in a hall pass is something that is kind of humiliating in order to discourage students from leaving the classroom during class time. “It’s nice to have something that you might be reluctant to be seen within the halls, so you wouldn’t ask for it unless you really had to go,” Becker said.