Casey Garcia, mom of a 13-year-old middle schooler, posed as her daughter for almost an entire day of school at San Elizario Independent School District.
She then posted the stunt on YouTube.
In El Paso, Texas Garcia filmed herself going to classes dressed in a yellow Marvel hoodie, skinny jeans, heavy bronzer, thick winged eyeliner, glasses and a black medical mask.
In a separate video, she says she even dyed her hair darker to match her daughter's.
The video started with Garcia in the school bathroom, then we get a time-lapse video of her transformation.
As she's walking into the school she said:
"Do I look like a seventh-grader? No? Cool. Awesome."
Throughout almost the entire school day, she pretended to be her daughter, Julie, going to all her classes and interacting with all her teachers. In the beginning of the video she even said good morning to the principal.
There was a moment where she was questioned by the gym teacher, but still wasn't caught, Garcia said:
"The coach literally came up to me and was like, 'Who are you?'"
"When I was like, 'Julie,' and he was like 'Oh my god, Julie!'"
She's able to make it to several classes, even through lunch, but eventually is caught before the school day is done. Garcia said she would go to the principals office, however it's unclear if she actually did.
Throughout the day, you can see her interacting with some of Julie's friends who are in on the stunt.
The video ended with her saying:
"Just want to say thank you to all the girls that helped me get to all of my classes yesterday. I really really appreciate it."
"I honestly would have been discovered way sooner if it weren't for you and if you knew my secret and you kept it for me."
"Thank you so much for not saying anything, I honestly could have not made it the entire day as a middle school student without you."
In a follow-up video, she explained why she did it, stating it was to prove a point about security and treatment of students in public schools.
Garcia said:
"Now, the news station in El Paso-KT whatever, I don't watch the news-they're making it look really bad."
"Like I just wanted to go to middle school for sh*ts and giggles and I'm going to be 100 percent myself because now my integrity is being put on the line."
She explained throughout the day, she noticed teachers told her to put her phone away but mostly watched their computers, as they're still doing hybrid learning.
"I wasn't even a person. I was just, 'Hey, put your phone away'."
She goes on to explain how the seventh period teacher pulled her aside after class to confront her. Garcia said she did it 'for a social experiment' to test the teachers and the security of the school.
She continued:
"We need better security at our schools. This is what I tried to prove."
"I don't mean to be curt but I kind of feel like I proved it."
Garcia claimed she proved a point about mass shootings, saying security in schools is not enough to prevent someone from harming kids.
In 2021 alone, there have been seven school shootings according to Education Week, and 66 total since 2018. Insider reports there has been at least 255 mass shootings since the beginning of this year.
Garcia ended her video with:
"This is about our children and the safety of our children."
"That's all I'm trying to do is prevent another mass shooting."
The clips were also posted to her TikTok, with one video reaching 9.1 million views.
Local El Paso station KFOX14 reported Casey Garcia was arrested on an unrelated traffic warrant . She was held at the El Paso County Detention Facility with a bond of $7,908.
Garcia posted video of her arrest to YouTube as well.
There were a lot of mixed reactions online.
Some praised her for her actions while others said it was just a stunt for internet fame.
It's unclear if Casey Garcia will be charged with any crimes related to the incident at the middle school since her arrest was unrelated.
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