Since the early 2000’s an online tradition has marked graduation for Americans: a competition called Senior Assassin.
H-F Senior Assassin is a competition where seniors in teams of two. Seniors can find other seniors using Life360 or Splashin’ and hunt them down with water guns. Each player has to put in $5 and the last-standing team will take all the money as their cash prize.
Now while in theory this game is harmless but sadly in today’s climate this game is very dangerous as uninformed people could take this game as a threat and escalate the situation. The game could also be a nuisance to others as players don’t have that many restrictions as to where students can assassinate each other.
On April 10, H-F sent an email expressing they “are not in support of the Senior Assassin game and per student handbook, we do not allow water guns on campus.” Students caught with water guns on campus will receive disciplinary action. Even though students don’t play it on campus I can understand why the school is taking a stance on the game as if a situation were to escalate involving an H-F student it would be a bad look on the school.
H-F provided an example of a Senior Assassin being dangerous, linking an article by WGN after a concealed carry holder mistook the game as a threat . According to WGN “A group of high school students entered a local restaurant wearing ski masks and holding water guns. The group was targeting other students who were dining, and attempted to spray them with water”. WGN also reported that “ Police said a concealed-carry holder in the restaurant mistook the game as a threat and the situation could have escalated quickly.”
There are students who believe that the game is not dangerous and the school should not have given out consequences for participating in it.
Senior Timmy Van Etten also shared these sentiments and believes the game is not problematic and the school should not be involved.
“Senior assassin is a fun game that has been going on for years,” Van Etten said. “I don’t understand how it became a problem this year.”
Van Etten also believes H-F’s reaction should not have been as strict as it was due to its harmlessness. “I think the school overreacted quite a bit with how much they cracked down.” said Van Etten.
Van Etten thinks the school shouldn’t have gotten involved due to the game not being played on school grounds. “The school overreacted quite a bit with how much they cracked down on the fun activity,” Van Etten said. “There was no real presence on school grounds and I don’t think it was that big of a deal where they had to get involved.” This is valid, as senior assassin has been going on for years with no problems but personally I wouldn’t want that risk to be taken as this could be the year something problematic happens.
Senior Chukwuemeke Ejechi was another participant of ‘Senior assassin’ and thinks seniors should still play the game when it’s in a safe and controlled environment. “I don’t think it’s dangerous because it’s just water guns and students should do what they want as long as it’s safe.”
Ejechi also understands the school’s reaction to the game and he would do it himself.
“I mean I feel like it was a reasonable response,” Ejechi said, “because if I was the principal I would think the same way so I think it was reasonable.”
I think that the school was a little harsh with their reaction to the game as H-F students have no bad intentions with it as it’s a fun way to end their high school journey. There are too many problems with the world right now which makes playing the game a major risk for students.
The game is very popular among seniors across the U.S. since its origins dating all the way back to 2014. Now even if H-F students have no malicious intent; others who are unaware of the game might perceive this as a threat and can result in serious consequences.
