TikTok: the way kids and adults these days keep themselves busy.

The sight has hours of videos to scroll through and watch, and new trends weekly. Most of the time the trends are people dancing, lip syncing, or a plethora of other things. 

None of them have become an issue until the newest one. The kids are calling it “devious licks.” 

This trend is where people steal things from local schools. It is a wide variety of things. Example of small items include tiles out of locker rooms ceilings, soap dispensers, and paper towel dispensers. Some of the bigger things are items like toilets, computers/laptops, small printers… and that is just the start of it.

 The punishment for these “devious licks” ranges from a warning, having to be escorted to the bathroom, or getting a detention/suspension. 

Mr. Holup, OLSH’s assistant principal, says that the punishments for achieving a devious lick change depending on the act. For a small thing like hand sanitizer or a soap dispenser, the punishment would be a two day suspension. If it was something that had to do with safety, like a fire extinguisher, it would then be reported to the police, because it is considered a felony. The police would then be the ones to dish out the punishment.

When Mr. Holup was asked what his feelings were on the topic, he said, “ It’s another thing that is out there with social media, you hope that kids won’t do it down the line … but you do know that that is something kids look at, how many ‘likes’ that they have on social media and things like that. It’s definitely something that you have to be aware of as an administrator.” 

 Junior Luke Waszyn and sophomore English teacher Mrs. Wallover also gave their take on the trend.  A common thing that was said between them was that they have seen the trend. When asked what their feelings were on it, those answers varied. 

“I think that it is hilarious,” said Luke. Later on in his statement, he said that he felt that it was interesting because “it’s going on everywhere. It is not just a local thing.” 

Mrs Wallover said, “I understand that most kids don’t have bad intentions with it… but stealing for fun is always wrong. It just feels like there could be a more creative way to to get that thrill other than taking everybody else’s stuff.”

As this trend continues to be popular, remember what Mrs. Steuernagel always says: “Stay safe and make smart decisions.”