Mass hysteria has overcome St. Louis U. High as “The Mad Duckster” runs loose. Throughout the school year, an anonymous graffiti artist has defaced whiteboards with nearly identical duck drawings. The Prep News has uncovered the secrets of The Mad Duckster and his motives in drawing these creatures. 

The primary artist behind these ducks is sophomore Sam Willie. His creative career began last school year in his freshman homeroom. 

“It annoyed this senior who was one of the senior advisors in my homeroom last year,” said Willie. “He drew a skyline of New York or something, and I drew a giant duck attacking his city because I was trying to think of something gigantic and cute and evil.” 

Arriving early to school in the mornings, Willie took to drawing ducks on whiteboards of unoccupied classrooms. According to sophomore Nick George, the ducks began to appear last school year. 

“The first time I saw it was last March in Mr. Lally’s homeroom,” said George.

As Willie continued this curious artistry when students returned to campus in the fall, he became known by his friends and teachers as “The Mad Duckster.” 

Naturally, this pattern of unusual drawings was brought to the attention of Asst. Principal for Student Life Brock Kesterson. 

“As with anything, I try to wonder what sort of underlying meaning there might be,” said Kesterson. 

Once, Willie drew a duck on a sticky note and it was placed on a ceiling security camera. 

“I explained that it was not me who put it on the security camera,” said Willie. “But I was fine with it.” 

Overall, the ducks posed no disciplinary problems at SLUH, and “The Mad Duckster” has not suffered any sort of severe punishment for his drawings. 

“They weren't damaging anything around the school, so it seemed to be harmless in that sense,” said Kesterson. “But again, what does the symbolism of the duck mean?” 

That question has probed the minds of students and faculty alike. 

“My opinion on the ducks is that they’re actually pretty funny, and even though many teachers find them annoying, they’re kind of an iconic SLUH theme now,” said sophomore Eric Pudlo. 

While some teachers dislike the ducks on their whiteboards, others have enjoyed the creativity. 

“I always celebrate quirky non sequiturs that just for no objective reason make life a little more spontaneous and enjoyable,” said English teacher David Callon. “I've always invited him to come in here and draw them.” 

“It annoyed this senior who was one of the senior advisors in my homeroom last year. He drew a skyline of New York or something, and I drew a giant duck attacking his city because I was trying to think of something gigantic and cute and evil.”

Sam Willie, The Mad Duckster

In some cases, people have been inspired to add scenes or captions to the duck drawings to enhance the creative movement of “The Mad Duckster.” 

“I had started adding some captions on the ducks,” said Callon. “In fact, I did some political captions on some, and they became kind of controversial.” 

The most problematic aspect of Willie’s duck drawings is the hindrance they pose to the maintenance department. 

“There’s a lot of boards that would not need cleaning except for the ducks,” said Callon. 

While his ducks have brought mostly joy and curiosity to the SLUH community, Willie has decided to give up drawing them for Lent. Freshman John Posey will take over the scheme as the interim Mad Duckster. 

“I hope I’m up to the challenge,” said Posey. “You know, when you look at the quality of the ducks, they're not quite the same. His are a very perfect duck shape, mine are a little bit more clunky Chernobyl type of ducks, but, you know, I try.”