The Senior Rock: The Untold Story

The Senior Rock: The Untold Story is the true story of that beloved (and despised, by others) rock on the east lawn of the Branham High School campus, San Jose, California.
Branham High School’s Senior Rock has been the subject of wonder, envy, threat, endearment and just plain curiosity since it was dropped on the Senior Lawn, back in April 1973. Even today, some 37 years later, some people despise The Rock, suggesting along the line of, "The rock was left there because our staff is lazy,", and some respond along the line of, "The rock was a senior prank, it's a tradition now. Get used to it." Yet still others identify Branham High School by the website wall message, "you know that school with a giant painted rock in front of it." Regardless of an individual's sentiments toward the school and The Rock, here is how it all started.
The Senior Class President of Branham's Class of '73 observed, during the prior years of his attendance, that seniors had a tradition of perpetrating the senior prank, which consisted of vandalizing the school grounds, at the cost of taxpayers, as well as the culprits (when caught). Thinking that the caper was destructive and a waste of time, energy and money, he set his mind to coming up with a new, and better, idea. The 1970s was a time of ecological awareness, even where the students at Branham organized the Student Action for Environment (S.A.F.E.).
After consulting with only one member of the faculty, the Activities Director, the top-secret caper was born. That Activities Director suggested a statue, but the class president desired something more natural, and what could be more natural than a huge boulder! (So what if it was out-of-place, considering the existing landscape of the campus?)
Having chosen to include his own class officers and a small handful of trusted friends from years-ago grammar school, he set out to plan the Senior Rock caper in such a way as to not damage, even, the underground sprinkler system of the “Senior Lawn.”
It was one late afternoon in April 1973 when the student drove to the site of the former Hillsdale Rock Company, where he had already purchased the 5-ton granite boulder. First, the driver scooped up the rock with a huge bulldozer, then he dropped it on the heavy-duty truck. Immediately, the bulldozer operator was stunned, as the truck popped up on its rear wheels and the boulder slid back to the ground, leaving an eerie “thud.” Re-thinking the procedure, the operator wrapped the boulder, several times, with heavy-duty chain, and he gently lifted it, gently placing it back on the heavy-duty truck. The truck driver did warn, though, that he would transport the boulder at speeds no higher than 5 miles per hour, along Capitol Expressway and Hillsdale Road, to Meridian Avenue to the Branham High School campus.
Finally arriving at the school bus stop, the heavy-duty truck backed up to the designated rock landing area and raised the flat bed. All in attendance watched, as the rock slid to its designated resting place. It did not roll, and it did not crack, as feared. It just landed on the ground, with that same eerie “thud” that was heard, earlier that hour.
It was hilarious to witness students getting off of the bus, heads turning with double-takes and triple-takes. In the days and weeks which followed, as the rock was not removed, many rumors and complaints started to circulate. Questions like, “When is that rock going to be removed?” were soon replaced by rival school student threats to blow up the rock, to pick it up and dump it in the Branham swimming pool, etc. What actually occurred is that students started to paint the rock, with their own class year graffiti. Soon, it was realized that the anti-vandalism objective was actually accomplished, as the focal point of the vandalism became "The Rock," rather than the school buildings.
Is it just a coincidence, after two years of controversy within the Campbell Union High School District, in the area of rival Los Gatos High School, an entrepreneur invented his novelty, "The Pet Rock?" Most likely not, but the coincidence is interesting, isn't it?
Though, several years later, someone did move The Rock about 2 feet off of its landing site, that someone never did come forward to claim credit for their dastardly deed!
Some years later, after 1989, while the campus was leased to Valley Christian High School, some kind soul replaced “The Rock” onto its original setting. Though, back in 1973, the school campus lease was not anticipated, “The Rock,” posed as the Christian symbol for the Lord, and, very often, "The Rock" became the rendezvous place of young men and young women, as they embarked on their dating adventures.
As of the time of this article, the unique permanency of this senior prank, “The Senior Rock” remains on the original landing site, nearly four decades later.

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