‘Club Baño’ Creates Controversy

It was just supposed to be a simple senior prank. While walking down the hall last year, senior Mark Mergen heard music blasting in a room close by. He looked in, saw a class throwing a party and continued his stroll along the hallway. Then, it hit him.

How funny would it be if kids threw a party in some random room and played music loud enough to be heard on the floor below it?

“Kids would just walk by and hear music blasting and not have a clue what it is,” Mergen said. “It would be a classic senior prank.”

Months passed and Mergen kept the idea to himself until just a few weeks ago. He wanted to do something the seniors had never done before.

“The previous senior classes were lame, and didn’t do anything fun,” Mergen said.

First, Mergen needed to find a room so random that no one would ever think of throwing a party in it.

“It couldn’t be some empty room. It had to be just the weirdest spot to party,” Mergen said.

The bathroom.

Mergen initially planned on bringing in a boom box and blasting music in the bathroom, since he thought it would be a great prank on the students that actually needed to use the bathroom.

Next, he needed to gather a ton of people to actually make it a success. Otherwise it would just be some failed prank and make him look like a creep dancing to annoying music behind a kid using the bathroom. He relayed the idea of throwing a party in the bathroom to several people. Most of them shot down the idea, thinking it would just flop.

But Mergen stuck to his idea and continued to believe that it would turn out to be something hilarious and even epic. He just needed to find someone that could get everyone else involved. That’s where senior Zach Colby came in.

“Mark told me the idea and I thought it was hilarious,” Colby said. “The thought of a ton of guys crowding the bathroom and dancing around a boom box was genius. He told me I needed to get a lot kids to do it, so I started telling other guys what is was and got them to get in on it.”

Ten guys became 20, and 30 became 40. The bathroom dance club began to gain major momentum. Colby even started announcing it on his Twitter account in an effort to get even more people involved.

Finally, it needed a name.

“It couldn’t just have any name,” Mergen said. “It needed something that would stick, and that people would remember. The first idea was club bathroom, but it needed a little more spice—something that would add more appeal to it. We translated the bathroom to Spanish and there it was: Club Baño.”

The following Friday, it was time to execute the prank. Mergen brought in his boom box and met in the north fifth floor bathroom during the first passing period. He turned up the volume and began blasting music. The boys started to dance emphatically, and became noticed within no time.

Even the administrators began to notice the massive crowd of predominantly white boys that were singing and dancing around the hall.

“At first, we were concerned that it making fun of another group of people or being racist to other kids,” administrator Steve Loe said. “We called up a few kids that were involved in it and found out what the whole fuss was about. It turned out to just be a group of guys dancing around and being goofy.”

Loe even believes that Club Baño has helped make Fridays better for students.

“School should be fun and you can see that the boys are having a good time when they’re singing and jumping around,” Loe said. “It doesn’t seem malicious at all and is just a group of guys acting like goofs. I don’t want it to get out of hand. As long as the kids are at class on time and there is no major hall traffic, I’m fine with it.”

Mergen said that Club Baño is open to all kinds of people regardless of race or gender, and he has also been trying to recruit girls to get involved with Baño.

“We are open to kids of all denominations,” Mergen said. “On Fridays, it’s not a boy’s bathroom. It’s Club Baño.”

After a very strong showing in their debut session and a very high demand for another, Mergen and Colby decided to have another Baño session the next Friday. Their next Club Baño proved to be even more rowdy and had even more kids show up.

One of those kids was sophomore Hank Tamblyn. Tamblyn believes that Club Baño has made his Fridays better in every way.

“It’s great to see people actually having fun at school,” Tamblyn said. “I always feel a rush of excitement when I hear the bell for passing period ring. There’s nothing better than the sound of men enjoying themselves.”

Mergen has decided to suspend Club Baño until the basketball season begins.

“Baño is intended to be a celebration of any day worth being celebrated,” Mergen said. “It can’t just be some weekly thing that gets old and not fun anymore.”

Mergen has also been trying hard to improve every Baño session and make each better than the last. He wants to start bringing in strobe lights to make it feel more and more club-like and to also bring food to serve to its loyal partiers. He has even considered making it sort of a fundraiser and charging a one dollar admission fee.

“It’s all about growing Club Baño’s image and spreading the word about it,” said Mergen, who even got a Club Baño chant going at Good Morning America when he was on a DECA trip to New York City. “I want it to get bigger and bigger each time. We have even thought about getting the community involved with Baño and start fundraising for charities. There’s a lot of potential with this.”

All photos by Lindsey Hartnett.

Watch a recording of Club Baño on its Frat-themed day on Nov. 5.

Video by Alex Lamb.