Flathead High School students Miles Terry and Jake Miller, both 18, aren’t looking for a pity party.

Although Kalispell Public Schools won’t release the names of the 21 students involved in a May 10 prank at Flathead High School that resulted in vandalism, the two seniors decided to go on the record during an interview Wednesday with the Daily Inter Lake.

Their intent was to share their side of the story and publicly apologize to classmates and the community.

Both admit their involvement and said they regret their choice to participate in what was intended to be an “innocent senior prank” filling cups with water and setting them up in a hallway.

That quickly spiraled into vandalism (causing damage estimated at $4,000), which Miller and Terry said they didn’t anticipate or participate in.

They are suffering the consequences: a nine-day school suspension for Terry and a four-day suspension for Miller. Along with 18 other seniors, they also have been barred from participating in the June 3 graduation ceremony. The other student who took part in the May 10 break-in and vandalism is a junior at Flathead.

“The biggest punishment for me, it’s not the suspension,” Terry said. “It’s not my grades dropping from a 4.0 to a 2.8. It’s not that I can’t walk [at graduation]. It’s the public ridicule for something [vandalism] we weren’t a part of.”

Although no criminal charges have been filed yet, the pair said they have been called “criminals” by others passing them in the school hallways. The backlash has turned into bullying and changed their remorse to anger and frustration.

“A kid peed in my locker today. I didn’t feel like bringing it up to the school because what would they do?” Terry said, shrugging his shoulders. “We get treated differently. We’re labeled as bad kids, even though we haven’t gotten in trouble before.”

Terry and Miller said other students involved — specifically those who got lawyers — have been targeted. Miller initially got a lawyer and chose not to make a statement to school officials when threatened with possible criminal charges.

“We’re being held accountable for everything that we’ve done,” Miller said. “And we should be. I agree. We messed up. We screwed up. I take full blame for everything I did.”

They vented their frustration with high school administrators during their opportunity to speak individually before the school board in a closed session Tuesday, saying they were interrupted and talked over.

“The environment at the board meeting felt like it was an argument between us and our high school administration,” Miller said.

Kalispell Public Schools Superintendent Mark Flatau later responded to the students’ frustrations in an email:

“We are sorry that some students have expressed this opinion to the paper. We conducted an appropriate investigation of the incident. Upon review of the facts took appropriate action and after 15 students appeared before our 11-member board of trustees, they upheld the recommendation to deny participation in the graduation ceremony. We would be happy to talk with individual students who may feel this way in order to address this concern.”

Flathead wasn’t the only Kalispell school to experience a senior prank.

On April 29, 17 students entered Glacier High School using a key and moved hundreds of chairs from various areas of the school to the weight-room area on the second floor, according to a “summary of facts” prepared with input from Glacier administrators.

Incidents at both schools have left a feeling of divisiveness among some people in regard to consequences.

Although the incident at Glacier did not result in vandalism, some students, parents and a trustee wondered why Glacier students did not come before the board for obtaining a key and entering the high school without permission.

The Glacier students were assigned service projects around the school, such as weeding, picking up litter, spreading gravel and digging a foundation for a sign.

The summary stated that Glacier administrators had “complete cooperation” from students involved who “all admitted to their involvement and were told that complete honesty was imperative or face a possible trespass charge.” Following an investigation, students’ actions were deemed not to have caused building damages or impacted school activities.

“It is important that the consequence for an infraction is commensurate with the sum of all the factors,” Glacier Principal Callie Langohr said in an email. “In the specific case of the recent Glacier senior prank, the student consequence is commensurate with the circumstances of the incident.”

Glacier’s “slap on the wrist,” as Terry put it, led him to believe Flathead’s prank would result in similar consequences if it had gone as planned.

“We saw what happened at Glacier. And that was the big determining factor for me to go do this innocent prank.”

Miller added: “As far as we knew, we were getting in the school the same way Glacier kids got in. We were going to do something just as innocent as the Glacier kids did, not causing damage and we were going to leave.”

But the prank went horribly wrong from the start.

A key students had gotten to gain entry to the school didn’t work. Students attempted to open a window by pushing up on the single pane when someone’s hand got caught, according to Terry.

“I walked over trying to get their hand unstuck; [that] was when the window shattered,” Terry said.

Terry said he started running away but stopped. After hesitating, he headed back to the school.

“In my rationale, the damage had been done. There wouldn’t be further damage. We’ll pay for the window,” Terry said. After the incident, Terry said he offered to pay for a portion or all of the cost to replace the window.

Terry climbed through the broken window and opened the door to what he estimates were between 17 to 18 students, one of whom was Miller.

When more students showed up, one possibly intoxicated, things spiraled out of control. Miller said that he left when a student began shaking a vending machine and wouldn’t stop despite verbal protests from other students. Terry was filling cups in a bathroom.

When things got physical between the allegedly intoxicated student and one student purportedly trying to stop him, more students started leaving.

Before Terry left, another student told him a water fountain had been ripped off the wall.

“There’s no way,” Terry said, and asked to see.

The damage had indeed been done and water was leaking onto the floor.

“At that point I went and turned off the water,” Terry said. Then he left the school.

“I’ve accepted my punishments for what ended up happening that night. I take responsibility for what I have done,” he concluded, with Miller in agreement. “The public and community may feel like I may be guilty of what another student has done while there, and that’s what it has been portrayed in the news — and there’s nothing we can do about that. Our public image has gotten ruined simply for being associated with it.”

Not participating in graduation is not what currently troubles Terry.

“The reason it’s not a big deal why I walk is because my mom got diagnosed with breast cancer the day I got suspended. So her breast cancer surgery is on June 1,” Terry said.

Miller said the graduation ban will affect him and his family, some of whom had already booked flights to Kalispell to attend his graduation.

And while the ceremony itself may not be the most interesting event to a high schooler, both realize it’s a celebration that caps 12 to 13 years of academic work and will not happen again.

“My hope is to put it all behind me and move on, as what it should be for the entire community,” Terry said. “The lessons that were learned from that night are endless.”

Hilary Matheson is a reporter for The Daily Inter Lake. She may be reached at 758-4431 or hmatheson@dailyinterlake.com.