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‘Ditch Day’ at Caltech

As part of a "Ditch Day" prank, underclassmen duct-tape senior Carly Bond, 22, to a tree.

As part of a “Ditch Day” prank, underclassmen duct-tape senior Carly Bond, 22, to a tree.   (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

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School officials say the Ditch Day ritual goes back almost a century. Classes at the Pasadena campus are canceled and seniors plan for weeks and months before the day finally arrives. There’s a science to the shenanigans.
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Smile for the camera

A group of underclassmen have their picture taken in the Scooby-Doo Mystery Machine. Rappelling down a school building and retrieving clues in a water-cornstarch mix are among the creative challenges presented to underclassmen this year.   (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

Take that!

Students take part in water fights using balloons and guns. For a school that embraces the exactitude of math and science, the details around how Ditch Day began are fuzzy.   (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

He's all wet

While engaging in a water-gun fight, a student falls into a pond at Caltech. According to the campus website, sometime during the 1920s, weary seniors decided to give themselves a break and headed off campus for a day. The next year it was repeated and embraced as a tradition: a ditch day for seniors only.   (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

Fluid motions

Jalani Williams, 17, wards off an attack by Jacob Shenker, 21, during a water-balloon fight.   (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

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