Skyline High School’s annual Senior Assassin began in early April and now is entering its final rounds. The Senior Assassin games are not specific to Skyline High School and are played around the country.
The game entails a private party—not affiliated with Skyline—giving out targets for Seniors and having them hunt down and use a water gun to eliminate opposing players. To participate, you must put in ten dollars, which creates a winning pot of two thousand dollars. This causes high tension among Seniors, because you never know who has you as a target.
For many Seniors, this is one of their last experiences of being a kid with their friends before going off to college. Senior Sam Simos, who made it through the first round but fell short late in the second, said, “I think it’s a really fun thing to do, it brings all the Seniors together.”
There is widespread participation in the first round, where everybody is still in the game. Then the purge hour (from 6–7 PM on Friday–Sunday), when anybody can get any other player who is participating, is very electric for the Seniors. “It’s nerve racking on the purge days, because anyone can get you,” Simos said. To not get eliminated during the normal hours, players must wear something swim related, like goggles or a flotation device.
This tension has a real impact on how players move around in their day to day lives. “I’d leave lunch early or not leave my house during odd hours if I could just be careful,” said Simos. Many other students also have the same experience, like Senior Luke Carlston, who said, “Having to watch out for people stalking you and trying to eliminate you was very tedious.”
The game can get frustrating at times, especially for those who participate in spring sports, due to having to get to your car after practice without getting eliminated. It can be hard to stay in the game. Senior Alex Brown, who participated in lacrosse and runs for track, said, “You’re pretty much done for if you have sport, because it’s hard not to get caught if they know you’re gonna be at practice.”
A large amount of the Senior student body played in the game this year, but some, like Senior Derryck Zitting, chose not to, his reason being he did not want to get sprayed with water. However, he acknowledged the game’s fun nature, due to it being the last year in high school and Seniors wanting to make the most of it. Zitting claims the prize does not concern him. He said, “There are better ways to make money.”
Even for the students that have already been eliminated, many say the experience and memories made it worth it. “It was really fun even though I didn’t win,” Senior Luke Frey stated.
