Annual April Fool’s Issue of The Elm Offers a Fun and Light-Hearted Look at Campus Life

ZomBees invading campus? A Bachelor-style presidential search? Squirrels celebrating move-out day? Anything is possible when The Elm celebrates April Fool's Day.

Adding football as a Varsity sport, a presidential search modeled after ABC’s The Bachelor, and the addition of a Hype House for aspiring TikTok stars are just some of tongue-in-cheek topics that readers have come to enjoy in the annual April Fool’s Issue of The Elm.

While there are no records to indicate exactly why this tradition began, it is one that has been observed by The Elm staff since 1994 and has become a fan favorite on campus. “It’s one time of year when we adopt a goofy, light-hearted tone,” said Erica Quinones, Editor-in-Chief of The Elm, describing it as a fully fictionalized version of the weekly student-run newspaper.

Articles are generally inspired by current events, either localized to what’s happening on campus or taken from events occurring in the world in general. The writers all adopt fake names and titles to match the articles, and even the paper itself is given a fictional name for the week. In 2021, it was Weekly Driftwood.

Ideas for the April Fool’s articles are sourced in a variety of ways, one of which is tied to another tradition – the annual tabling event on National Day of Writing in October. As part of their engagement with the community that day, The Elm staff solicit suggestions from the study body for April Fool’s articles. Those suggestions then get voted on by the paper’s Editorial Board. They also have a whiteboard in their office where they keep a running list of ideas. “Some of those make it, some don’t!” said Quinones.

According to Quinones, over the past few years, they have relied heavily on parody in describing what was happening on campus. For example, one article poked fun at the giant tents that had been put up around campus at the height of the pandemic. Gus the Goose is almost always present in the issue as well due to the always comical nature of putting the mascot into different situations.

Ultimately, deciding on the content for this special issue follows the same process at the regular weekly issue, with Section Editors pitching anywhere from 4-8 ideas to Quinones two weeks before publication.

Quinones is very excited about this year’s April Fool’s issue, coting one article in particular that she hopes everyone will enjoy. “I actually spit out my drink when it was pitched because it was so funny,” she said. “That one immediately went up on the board!”

She also noted that part of what makes this issue enjoyable is that while it’s completely fictional, there are generally pieces that will integrate real people from within the Washington College community, even if it’s in small ways. Having interim President Wayne Powell announce that the College was adding a football program is one of her favorite examples of this. “To me, that one real element just expounds the joke,” said Quinones.

Other favorites of hers include a piece about Adobe possessing The Elm staff, a Local News section that included short 100-word articles about professors answering their emails and another about squirrels celebrating their noisy neighbors (students) moving out.

The writers know that not every article will resonate with every reader, but the reactions are always interesting. “People do seem to have fun engaging with this issue,” said Quinones, noting that they get more comments and criticisms in response to this one than most others.

While the origin of the April Fool’s issue remains unknown, Quinones hopes that it will live on for decades to come. “Being a student is hard,” she said, “with the pressures of academics, and figuring out how to be an adult without your parents around. It’s a lot to handle and we all need to be able to let it all go in a fun and light-hearted manner now and again. So it’s really nice to have fun with it for a week!”

The tradition continues in 2022, with an online-only April Fool’s Issue of The Elm going live on Thursday, April 7.