Mid June is the week every antsy high school senior looks forward to. Ready to celebrate their 12-year-long accomplishment by kicking it with gallons of “big kid juice,” all nighters, and hours of fun in the sun. 

Outer Banks locals are fed up. A news article published by the Virginian Pilot titled, “Senior ‘beach week’ on the Outer Banks is out of control, civic leaders say. So one community is fighting back,” highlighted all the “hooliganism” locals have to put up with. 

The story led with, “Stolen signs, trashed vacation homes, doors pulled off frames, indoor furniture dragged to the beach, drunken teens urinating on lawns, mobs of kids blocking residential streets, and refusing to move for cars.”

The weight of making it through beach week has always been heavy. This year, it has doubled. Locals vow to be prepared this year. This includes running names through databases, drive-bys and spot checks, fake mandatory house checks, double security measures, and increased evictions. 

It appears that seniors will have to avoid traveling in large groups if they want to attend beach week with minimum risk. New graduates will have to remain a low profile in order to avoid surprise evictions from the property managers according to threats from locals. 

“Sometimes we’ll call and say, you can cancel now without any type of fees or damages. If I evict you, you get none of your money back,” Brook Spark, owner and property manager at Coast Realty, said in the article. 

Gen Xers describe the teenage behavior as being out of hand and “wild.” Property managers are sick of cleaning up after lazy decisions. It’s reasonable to miss the old family feel of the Outer Banks. It’s also reasonable to say it’s not fair to snatch a traditional senior vacation spot. 

“The key message is that Corolla is a great place for families to visit and a terrible place for wild, out of control partying, that leads to confrontations with other residents and visitors, who then become fearful for their safety,” concluded the article. “The hope is that this information will be shared with students and parents so that there is a clear understanding that ‘gone wild’ behavior will not be tolerated here.”

Essentially, older people are begging teenagers to stop the madness. High school Seniors have always had to deal with the stress of getting caught. This year the stress has doubled. It might come down to cutting the lights when an unfamiliar car pulls into the driveway. Although, simply avoiding the Outer Banks may be the best bet. Unfortunately, the 2023 class will deal with the class of 2022 mistakes. The last straw has been drawn.