Grad party leaves behind ‘appalling’ mess at campsite

Grad gone bad: Partying teens destroy camp site School officials in Surrey, B.C., believe the carnage of camping equipment was left behind by teens celebrating high school graduation.

The Surrey school district says it’s embarrassed and disappointed by a huge mess left behind at a popular camping site after an unsanctioned annual graduation party.

Crumpled tents, sleeping bags, broken chairs, heaps of garbage and empty liquor bottles were discarded on the Skwellepil Creek campground east of Agassiz last weekend. Someone also spray painted names and swear words on several trees and rocks.

The partiers also left behind a clue: a test paper believed to belong to a student at Elgin Park Secondary School.

Pictures of the eyesore were posted on a private B.C. Toyota 4WD Facebook page, whose members forwarded the images to the school.

Doug Strachan, a spokesperson for the Surrey School District, believes the carnage of camping equipment was left behind by Grade 12s celebrating their graduation.

“When they leave a big mess like in this case, it leaves a black mark on the school,” he told CTV Vancouver.

Elgin Park Secondary Principal Bruce Filsinger said about 70 students participated in the annual and unauthorized “Grad Camp.”

A letter was sent out to parents on May 9 warning of the “tradition” in a bid to decrease incidents “in which students’ safety is compromised.”

Officials asked parents to speak with their children about respecting the outdoors.

Filsinger said the school administration doesn’t know exactly when and where the grad camps happen because the students keep it pretty secret.

He said the event is off school property and not during school hours, so there’s not much they can do.

“It’s sad that so many students will be tarred with that brush when they would never do something like that,” Strachan said.

No one has come forward to claim responsibility for the mess.

With a report from CTV Vancouver’s Sarah MacDonald