Weird History: Readers Share Most Random School Assembly

From a Facebook commenterAutumn Baeza:

He went to high school in Texas. A Christian speaker played acoustic guitar. He sang about people he tried to help who committed suicide. His guitar strings broke; he claimed demons stopped him. Afterward, he pulled me and my friends aside. He told us one of us was possessed by a demon. So it was educational.

From a Facebook commenterHeather McGee:

At the school assembly, everyone was there. We often had assemblies at my high school. One day, Jane Goodall spoke. She made chimp sounds to greet us. We laughed, and she yelled at us for being rude while talking in chimpanzee. That is the real story. Crazy stuff.

From a Facebook commenterCallie Skipper:

In middle school, a group of female prisoners came to speak to us. They shared their lives and what led them to prison. They told us about their time in prison, what they missed, and gave us advice. This was quite interesting. I think they came in 6th and 7th grade.

From a Facebook commenterTrin Mills:

A man currently in prison told us about him and his friends. They were huffing gasoline in their basement. One friend lit a joint, and the entire place blew up. He was the only one who survived. He was in prison for trying to rob a bank to pay for medical bills after being severely burned.

From a Facebook commenterCraig Humes:

A teacher held an assembly on Judo. He brought his friends to show a demonstration. Guys ran in a circle, then stopped to throw each other.

After a few minutes, everyone was sweaty. Sweat flew all over us kids as they performed each throw.

From a Facebook commenterGwen McGlaun:

Four teachers dressed as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. A climbing instructor rigged them to rappel from the gym ceiling. Three made it down perfectly and kept the skit going. One got stuck halfway down, hanging upside down for the rest of the assembly. They pulled him back up through the ceiling to applause. This was memorable because it happened over 20 years ago.

From a Facebook commenterAbbey Elise Couch:

One time in a middle school assembly, two gym teachers dressed as hot dogs. They let students walk by, squirting them with ketchup and mustard. I do not recall the assembly's topic, but that was just one part. I found it very odd.

From a Facebook commenterCeleste Marie Thompson:

A man dressed like Evil Knievel rode his pet bison. We thought it looked amazing!

From a Facebook commenterTiffany Auger:

A lady brought handicapped animals to the school. She wanted the school to raise money and supplies for her farm. These animals included a blind sheep, a three-legged goat, a dog that eats only in a contraption to stay up, a hen with pink-painted claws, and a small turtle. Everyone liked it. The school sent her thousands of dollars worth of supplies. That was a strange experience.

From Facebook commenterPaul Kadilak:

We played tennis in the 8th-grade gym. They called us to the auditorium for an assembly. The local pet store, which I visited often, brought animals. They showed a nine-foot python I used to play with. I sat in the front row next to the school bully, the biggest guy. The python moved off the stage edge. The school bully jumped up on his chair, scared. I thought, this is my chance.

At the assembly's end, they asked everyone to touch the snake on stage. The bully's turn came. I grabbed the snake, put it around my neck, and shoved the python's face into the bully's. He screamed like a little girl and ran out of the auditorium in front of 600 people. That day ended his reputation as a tough guy. He stopped picking on people much after that.

From Facebook commenterWhitney Blackburn:

[We] had a guy named Okeefenokee Joe bring snakes and reptiles. He brought a rattlesnake. He put the microphone up to it so we could hear the tail rattle. Many elementary school kids screamed.

From Facebook commenterAudrey Kantrowitz:

A D.A.R.E. speaker came to talk about his life in 7th grade. He spoke about becoming addicted to drugs and joining gangs. He had to sleep with one eye open because someone gave him a hit. The story was compelling until the end. After our polite applause, he said, "Thank you, now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go have a cigarette."

From Facebook commenterShannon Davis Sullivan:

It was the 80s. This was the peak of the D.A.R.E. program. I was in 6th grade. I helped run a D.A.R.E.-based assembly. It told kids not to use drugs. During the intro, we played Queen's song, "We Are The Champions." After the song ended, we yelled at the audience, "Are we champs, or are we chumps?" My little brother was in the audience and still makes fun of me about it today. He should.

From Facebook commenterKim Graham:

My daughter had a drug awareness and abuse assembly. The speaker, who used IV drugs before, relapsed. Ten minutes into him nodding off, the assembly ended.

From Facebook commenterNikki Kobor:

In the 80s, a kid died on local tracks after a train hit him. The school showed them the most horrifying train safety movie. Elementary kids watched full, graphic detail of a family in a car wiped out by a train, a brother and sister playing on tracks and getting hit (blood everywhere, one arm missing), and many other scary scenes.

I still remember every part of that movie. Trains make me uncomfortable now. If the goal was to scare us straight, it worked! I was about 10 years old; I am 44 today!

Facebook commenter.Jessica Cammarota:

The dangers of train tracks. They showed a video of someone hit by a train, but they did not show someone being hit. I was maybe in 6th grade. I still think about it.

Facebook commenter.Beth Hoyt Klein:

Muhammad Ali visited and sparred with local Larry Homes in 1973 (I think). They gathered kids in the auditorium; Ali was surprisingly inspirational!

Editor's note: Larry HolmesLarry Holmes was a professional boxer from Georgia who became a heavyweight champion in the late 1970s and early '80s.

Facebook commenter.John J. Haracopos:

They gathered us to tell us the first Black kid was entering our class! I felt odd, but they told us not to treat him any differently than family.

Facebook commenterAmy Titmus:

One last-year group assembly featured a male stripper in a silver thong (hired by some students) gyrating in front of the year head while rubbing oil on his chest. It was gross, but she played along.

Editor's note: A “year head” is a teacher in the UK who oversees students insecondary school.

Facebook commenterStaci Noe Beekhuizen:

In high school, the Air Force band played. We did not know what to expect; we thought it would be a band concert. We were surprised when the Air Force ROCK band played! We loved it!!! (The 80s were a strange, but awesome, time to be alive.)

Facebook commenterMerry Ann Mariano:

This happened in 1989, junior year of High School. I don't know why, but an Air Force rock band played at an assembly. We were unimpressed because older people (only in their 30s) played Eagles and Kansas. I could not remember all the songs; we just wanted it to end.

Facebook commenterMikael Urrey:

They made us sit through over an hour of a man with no arms giving an “inspirational” talk.

Watching him open a soda can with his toes and drink it was totally worth it.

Facebook commenterAmber Steiner-Woodruff

Elementary school, like 3rd grade... a local man lost both hands in an electrical accident, I believe. He had hooks instead of hands and took off his shirt to show us the harness, how he controlled the hooks, etc., then answered our questions.

Facebook commenterFaith Rose:

A man without arms played the drums with his feet.

From a Facebook commenter.Doris Orzel:

The principal called an assembly about rumors. Rumors circulated that a freshman was pregnant and her parents were unhappy. The principal stated how bad spreading untruths was. Six months later, the rumor produced a baby boy. Doris Orzel did not name him Rumor. That principal was a clown.

From a Facebook commenter.Mel Haby:

The high school had over 1000 students attending.

Principal: This is a new kid. He has a serious medical condition where his bones break very easily. I need you all to give him lots of space in the hallways and be careful around him.his bones breakI need you all to give him plenty of space in the hallways and be very careful around him.

Bullies:
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From a Facebook commenter.Kristen Lassiter:

I was in elementary school. These ripped guys in spandex stood in our cafeteria. They basically 'roid raged for an hour.' They ripped phone books in half and broke boards over their heads. It was a very weird experience.

From a Facebook commenter.Kayla Day:

I recall two things. Back in the nineties, muscular men came and tore up phone books and did other strange things. Also in the nineties, a man visited the school and played us a full interactive concert using spoons.

From a Facebook commenter.Mary Kathryn Brown:

A professional whistler. He whistled the theme song to the Andy Griffith Show.Andy Griffith ShowIt sounded like two people, but it was only one. This happened in the early seventies.

From a Facebook commenter.Carol Chamberlin Siler:

The guy who whistled theAndy Griffith ShowThe theme song came to our high school and whistled songs.

From a Facebook commenter.Nicole Carbone-Hash:

Back in 2003, the Jonas Brothers performed punk rock music at my high school in NJ. They were unknown and bad, so we all threw out their free CDs.

From a Facebook commenter.Natalie Renee:

1995 or 1996. The Backstreet Boys played before they became big.

From a Facebook commenter.Tori Lewin Matteson:

My high school had a laser show assembly. I am epileptic, so a teacher told me not to attend five minutes before the show. I was upset because I heard Led Zeppelin playing while sitting alone in the 'counselor’s office' near the auditorium for an hour.

From a Facebook commenter.Bianca Tarleton:

Sir Mix-a-Lot came to my high school assembly in 2000 to tell us to say no to drugs. But he could not perform any of his songs.

From a Facebook commenter.Jennifer Avery Anderson:

Montel Williams was actually a good motivational speaker before he had his own talk show.

From a Facebook commenter.Kari Wimbish:

Jesse Jackson visited our school. He gave a "Stay in School" message against dropping out. He possessed great charisma.

From a Facebook commenterLindsay Davis:

Jared the Subway guy arrived. He gave an inspiring speech. He brought huge jeans for junior high kids to wear. I look back now....

From a Facebook commenterAngelia Xiong:

In elementary school somewhere in California, we had a school assembly. It featured a hula-hooping show with flashing lights and loud music. Performers, kids and adults, did tricks with colorful hula hoops. That experience felt very cool for my 6-year-old brain. Now, thinking about it, it seems like a fever dream. I still want to do one of the tricks I recall every time I hold a hula hoop. I am 29 now.

From a Facebook commenterMichaellean Nicole Savage:

We were told rock and roll music, at certain volumes, could melt our brains. They also claimed Stevie Nicks was a witch!!!

From a Facebook commenterBonnie Hritz:

I do not recall it. In kindergarten, my older sister and I attended. They tried to brainwash us, saying Van Halen was "devil music."

From a Facebook commenterTiffany Ham:

Two years in a row in middle school, we had an assembly about the dangers of LSD. The same speaker gave the exact same speech each time. This speech repeated every urban legend about acid. This happened in the late '90s.