With the end of senior year approaching, senior students begin counting down the days until graduation. But with the end of senior year, one activity stands apart from the rest. Senior Assassin is a student-run game where senior students pay to play for a chance to win the money collected from all the other students participating. The game consists of teams of two who are assigned a target but they don’t know who is out to eliminate them making the playing experience stressful but fun. Students prepare and gear up with water blasters and for protection they get goggles and pool floaties. Students can be eliminated anywhere but private property, school grounds, and places of worship. Students have just 1 week to eliminate their targets and have to provide video proof that they are out. It’s Sunday, the last day of spring break and with all of the teams in place, targets begin to get assigned for the week ahead.
Senior Assassin, also known as “Senior Water Wars” or “Senior Splashin”, has been an ongoing tradition for not only WO, but schools all over the country. The game first got its start in 1982 and for some schools has been an ongoing tradition for decades but never really got popular until the 2010s due to its portrayal in popular TV shows like “ICarly” and “Gossip Girl”. Ever since then the game has continued to evolve and continues to be popular. Today there are designated apps designed just for the game to make the playing experience better but the original format of the game has stayed the same.
Sr. Cameron Davenport was a player in this year’s Senior Assassin game and he shared his overall experience while playing. “It was fun, got me out of the house a lot more, it was fun always having to be on the lookout. It felt like more than just a water gun game, sometimes it got so intense it felt like I was actually at war,” Davenport said.
Even though the game is 90% of the time fun and innocent, it has had some problems in the past. There are multiple scenarios of the game leading to the authorities getting involved. Mostly from concerned neighbours making calls thinking the students are a potential threat which could be dangerous for the student too. Most of these end up just being a misunderstanding but there have been times that students have almost gotten charged with felonies and having real firearms getting involved. The problem is, people could mistake the student playing for an actual criminal, especially at night.
Senior Riley Zuniga was another player in this year’s Senior Assassin and she gave her experience while a purge was happening during the game. “So, for Assassin, it was me and Madison Moore and we were on the team Spray Hard, Stay Hard. And it was during the first week of Assassin. So, it was just starting up and everything and that Friday, we had a purge and our original plan was to stay at home. I got a text from Madison saying that Sr.Gavin Phe wanted to go hunt people and get their target out. And she was asking me what to do about it. I get a call from Maddie and she says that Gavin is there. 6:30 rolls around. Maddie’s calling me and she says ‘hey, do you want to meet up with us?’ And I said yeah. We were originally going to meet at Family Fare. And then I got another call from her and she said, Okay. So, we’re parked at BG and we see Orion and Isaiah’s car here.’ And then what happened was they were like, ‘we’re going to sit here for a minute and see what happens.’ So, I hung up and I’m like, ‘okay, I’ll meet you at Family Fare’ and they said yes. I get another call as soon as I’m in Family Fare waiting for them and they’re like, ‘Okay, we’re on the mission. Let’s meet at Quincy Park.’ When I’m about to leave Family Fare like five minutes later I get another call saying that they’re getting chased by Orion, Isaiah, Ben Beatham and Francisco Martinez and then we decided to go to Walmart and so I got there before them and I’m just sitting there waiting for like 2 or 3 minutes. And then what happens is I see five cars flying behind me,”said Sr. Riley Zuniga.
Since this High School tradition is so new, some WO alumni didn’t get to participate. West Ottawa Alumni Derek Eade gave his opinions on the new exciting tradition that he didn’t get a chance to participate in. “This seems like a great tradition for the younger generation. I wish I would’ve had something like this when I was in high school. Watching you play it was quite entertaining and I think this would continue on for many years to come,” Eade Said.
Senior Assassin has come a long way since it first became popular, there has been some good and some bad but the game will only continue to get popular. It’s a very creative way to get seniors involved and a chance to make some final good memories before graduation and should be a staple in everyone’s senior year.
