In order to exact vengeance on the Souderton community’s wrongdoers, Batman made a surprise appearance at the high school in an attempt to single-handedly eliminate vaping and graffiti.
Following Batman’s appearance, students shared how they believe he positively contributed to the community.
“[He] was good. [He] literally stopped crime,” junior Levi Lewis said. “The day that [he] showed up, there was literally no crime, no graffiti.”
According to Lewis, before Batman came, the graffiti within bathrooms was out of control. Following his visit, it was gone.
The high school is having a problem with graffiti in the bathrooms, and there is a noticeable amount of fruit on the floors, but that seems to have definitely slowed down since Batman was here, world language teacher Alison Todd said.
However, according to security guard Bill Norbeck, Batman’s appearance had no real effect on graffiti or vaping in the long run.
“The graffiti actually picked back up after he came,” Norbeck said, “and the vaping has still been an ongoing battle.”
Did he solve the graffiti and vaping problems? Perhaps not.
But hey, Rome wasn’t built in a day.
Despite Batman not having a strong impact on graffiti or vaping, he did spread awareness and acted as a role model for many, Norbeck said.
“He made more and more students care about what was happening in the school which made it safer for everyone,” Norbeck said. “I definitely think some kids looked up to him as someone who cares about what goes on in his high school.”
Along with spreading awareness, Batman was able to encourage good citizenship in different ways, according to Lewis.
“[He] encouraged good citizenship through fear, but only to the bad guys,” Lewis said, “but, [he] would tell kids things like ‘Keep doing what you are doing.’”
Some teachers also feel that Batman was beneficial to the Souderton community.
“He’s helping to stop some of the graffiti and some of the nonsense that’s going on,” Todd said.
According to Todd, the school felt much calmer after Batman “put on the suit.”
In order to become Batman and embody vengeance, there are a certain set of character traits necessary.
For Lewis, Batman needs to be “super strong, like ridiculously strong.”
He also needs to be a nocturnal animal, but still come out during the daytime, be a strong leader and know how to rally a community together, Lewis said.
But, for world language teacher Rebecca Beemer, Batman needs to have integrity as well as enough money to buy a suit.
Some Souderton staff members would like to see the return of Batman, under certain circumstances.
“I would like to see the return as long as he does not have that mask on,” Norbeck said.
Masks, while very cool and effective for crime-fighting, are unfortunately against school policy.
Todd says that she is absolutely waiting for Batman’s return and is shocked that he has not come back already.
Lewis, who has connections with Batman, says that he believes he will return sometime next year if the people need him.