Middle School Principal Warns of Dangerous "Space Monkey" Game

Editor's Note: The following is a letter from the Inver Grove Heights Middle School administrative team.

Dear Staff and Parents,

The Inver Grove Heights Middle School administrative team would like to alert you to a dangerous new activity that some of our students are discussing and practicing.  Our students call this activity Space Monkey.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention defines this action as self-strangulation or strangulation by another person during participation in an activity that goes by the following names: The “blackout game”, the “pass out game”, the “scarf game”, or “space monkey”. According to a CDC press release made on February 14, 2008, over 82 youth died as a result of this behavior from 1995-2007. The average age of youth engaging in this practice at the time of the press release was 13.3 with an age range of 6 years old to 19 years old.

In the information that has been gathered regarding students who attend Inver Grove Heights Middle School, the “game’ is described in the following way: The participant bends forward from the waist, hyperventilates and then another person presses firmly down on his or her sternum or breastbone.  As a result, the participant loses consciousness or passes out. In some instances this process is video recorded by those who are observing and posted to social websites. 

For more information on this troubling practice, The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s website offers numerous articles, statistics and a short podcast. (http://www.cdc.gov/media/transcripts/2008/t080213.htm).

Anyone overhearing a student discussing this activity, or if there is a suspicion that someone is engaging in this practice, please address the issue right away.  Students need to understand the dangers of this practice to themselves, to their siblings or their friends. As a community, we must all join together to protect and safeguard the well being of our most precious commodity, our children. 

If you have any further questions or concerns, do not hesitate to contact any member of our school’s administrative team.

Sincerely,

Barbara Lake, Associate Principal

Jodi Wendel, Assistant Principal

Chad Klopp, Discipline