In the US, it has become a “trend” to play Senior Assassin towards the end of senior year. Many schools across the Chicagoland area are participating. To play Senior Assassin you pay to play and the goal is to get your assigned targets out by splashing them with a water gun.
Taft students have begun the beginning stages of participating in Senior Assassin. It was $5 to participate and there were teams of 2 assigned, and another team of 2 as their targets. 1 week is one round and targets reset after each week passes on Sunday. Teams who didn’t get their targets are eliminated, and those who did, move on to a new round and receive new targets. Once the game is over the winners will receive the total amount of money that was paid by what was collected from those who wanted to play.
Seniors so far are having a lot of fun with the game. Taft senior Luka Jevremovic said, “I’ve enjoyed playing the game and my experience has been fun and exciting.” Jevremovic continued, “I wanted to play because it’s a fun thing to do in my senior year.”
Although seniors have been having fun and enjoying the game, there is a lot of talk with concern towards the safety of the students. Many concerning stories have been told around such as students camping out at peoples houses for long periods of time, or students being aggressive.
Seniors are acting this way because of the involvement of a cash prize. The $5 paid by each playing student goes into a pot that will be given to the winners of the game and because the pot is over 1k, seniors are treating the game very seriously and doing what they can to get their targets out.
The concern of safety got to a point where Taft Principal Ryan Glowacz sent out an email to students about the game.
To follow up, Glowacz later said via email, “Our number one priority at Taft High School is student safety, and a quick google search highlights countless safety concerns connected to the practice.”
Taft senior Emily Diaz shared an experience she had while playing the game, Diaz said, “My experience was kind of creepy because a person had me as their target. Pulled up to my house, banged on my door, and told me to come out of my house, so it wasn’t the greatest. But with my partners, one of the players was driving and stopped their car in the middle of the road to eliminate her.”
Seniors obeying the rules of the game shows them caring for one another’s safety. It’s a tradition seniors play year after year. Students are having a great time participating, but only when people are respecting the rules. If no one is respecting the rules then where is the fun?
