Colton High “Fact of the Day” – May 9, 2022
The Pepper Bough published an April Fool’s edition in 1999 that featured several wild headlines.
Colton High School opened in 1895. It is one of the oldest high schools in the Inland Empire. In this daily feature, we celebrate Colton High’s rich history.
In 1999, the “Pepper Bow” made “fake news” a thing way before Donald Trump coined the phrase.
For the April 1st edition that year, the Pepper Bough staff published a paper featuring fake things happening at Colton. Some of these things were quite wild, including resurrecting the dead.
Some of the stories featured included:
- Microsoft purchases naming rights to the Mac Gym, renames it Windows Gym;
- The creation of a mural depicting CHS faculty . . . in the nude;
- Mandatory summer school for anyone with a GPA under 3.0;
- Rock bands Korn and Rage Against the Machine playing an AIDS benefit at Colton High;
- President Bill Clinton preparing to deliver a speech on family values in Fleming Park;
- The approval of off-campus lunch;
- A review of Tupac Shakur’s post-death performance on MTV’s Spring Break 1999.
At the end of the paper, the “Pepper Bow’s” editorial staff decided to come clean and reveal the joke. “In the case you haven’t already realized it (in which case you would be either VERY DENSE or a FACULTY MEMBER), this entire issue is fake!” said the editorial on the last page. The brief editorial explains the prank edition of the Pepper Bough has been a tradition going back to the 1940s.
Recently, the CHS Publications Department experienced a major theft as over $20,000 in photography equipment was stolen from our studio over Spring Break. This included all cameras. Any amount you donate will help rebuild our program. Thank you!
Joseline Ortega Delgado is a student at Colton High School. She doesn't talk much. When you run into her, expect her not to hear you over the music playing...