One hundred and fifty items in total were stolen from room 131A, including fifty rulers and 100 erasers. Many students considered these items the backbone of Arthur Thomas’s Art I class. A class cannot continue without the ability to erase mistakes while sketching or using a ruler to draw a straight line. 

“The fact that someone is willing to cause potentially hundreds of dollars in property damage and property losses, so that 12 viewers on Tik Tok can give them some sort of adoration, you know their ‘friends’ can LOL seems really sad to me,” Mr. Thomas said. 

 The Devious Lick challenge began in early September, and originated as a form of “pranks” on schools. It gained popularity mid-September spreading to hundreds of schools across the country, including Round Rock High School. Over the course of a month dozens of items were stolen from the school, ranging from soap dispensers to teacher supplies to hand dryers. These occurrences were not a coincidence. They were all effects of the Tik Tok challenge “Devious Lick”.

“Three weeks ago I really had to use the bathroom in chemistry,” sophomore Colin Dech said. “I walked in, no shelves, no soap. I opened a stall, it was clogged to the brim with toilet paper. The big stall had no lock on it. I haven’t gone to the bathroom at school in weeks.” 

In order to combat the rising popularity of this trend, and the rising vandalism cases, Principal Matt Groff made an announcement during fourth period in late September asking students to stop participating in the Devious Lick challenge. He also made a secondary announcement a few weeks later during sixth period, warning students that if they were to continue participating in the Devious Lick challenge, they were to be sent to the Round Rock Opportunity Center.  

“Instead of helping the school be better, we’re chasing around kids on cameras to see what they’ve done wrong,” Mr. Groff said. “We shouldn’t have to do that.” 

Stolen items consist mainly of bathroom items like hand dryers, soap dispensers, parts of toilets/urinals, and some teacher supplies. The buildings affected the most are the 700, 600, and 100. 

“I just think it’s stupid,” Dech said. “Freshman don’t know when to stop. They thought it was funny and then they carried it on.”

During the climax of the Devious Lick challenge, a secondary Tik Tok challenge was formed, Angelic Yields. The premise of Angelic Yields is to give back to the school by providing supplies and gifting others various types of items. 

“While it seems really great on paper, leaving things in a bathroom, like a plant or a fancy soap, doesn’t really solve the problem,” Thomas said. “I guess it’s a step in the right direction.” 

Broken and stolen items are tentatively scheduled to be replaced after Thanksgiving Break.