The game “Senior Assassin” has swept the country, becoming extremely popular among seniors in high school. The game, which follows an elimination-style bracket, encourages students to shoot their assigned “targets” with water guns to remove the competition and keep them from winning the end prize.
The game has exploded in popularity in recent years, with many national news outlets covering the merits of the game and how it has caused issues in local communities. Seniors in high school love the game because it provides a fun way to compete against their peers and encourages them to fight for the grand prize.
“It’s fun and easy to play! Who doesn’t want to squirt people with water guns?” said senior Aidan Poniatowski. “It’s also really exhilarating trying to assassinate the people, too.”
Seniors aren’t the only ones joining in the senior assassin fun, juniors have also gotten involved in lengthy stakeouts and researching seniors’ locations.
“I think it was a fun and good experience to get involved in,” said junior Aaliyah Roldan. “The experience was very stalker-ish, [The target] was in theater, and it was the day of the musical. I thought the musical would be like an hour, but apparently, it was three hours so we were [on a stakeout] for like three hours.”
Despite its popularity with students, though, members of the community raised concerns about potential damages of the game. Between students sneaking around and hiding out trying to get their targets, the game caused confusion for other citizens in Oswego and can often lead to misunderstandings within the community.
“What may seem like harmless fun to some can be perceived as a genuine threat by others, especially in a climate where concerns about safety and violence are heightened,” stated an email sent by Executive Director of Student Services, Jeremy Bell, Assistant Director of Student Services, Bailey Campbell, and Coordinator of Safety and Security for SD308, Michael Frieders.
In addition to potential physical concerns, the game also raises questions about privacy for the students involved. The game only allows for targets to be “hit” outside of school, so many participants have resorted to looking up each others’ home addresses and sharing it with the rest of the class. Additionally, students are hiding out in front of each others’ houses, disturbing many families trying to maintain personal privacy.
“I just got information for someone else too [[…]] I found their job and where they lived,” said Roldan.
Another complaint stemming from the players themselves was the overall difficulty of getting their targets as a consequence of different game rules and restrictions. For example, the first few weeks, students were able to avoid elimination by wearing floaties and goggles in public. Restrictions like these made it very difficult for participants to eliminate their targets on the time crunch they had each week.
“Yes, it’s funny to see people wearing goggles and floaties, but people need to be eliminated. It sucks when you need to get your target out during the second week but they could easily wear their outfit and be safe,” said Poniatowski.
At the end of the day, the game is meant to be fun, but it’s important to note the potential issues with the game itself and the consequences of participating. Students should make sure they are making it clearly apparent that they are participating in the game and not wreaking havoc on their neighbors. Overall, this game is a great bonding experience for OH seniors when safety and privacy are kept in mind.
My name is Sasha Pankuch and I am a junior here at OHS. This is my first year with 42Fifty too. I am very involved here at OHS; I am on the board of Student Council, I play the saxophone in the Panther Marching Band, and am a member of multiple honors societies!
I am a senior at OH and so excited to be a Managing and Opinions Section Editor this year! I love working on 42Fifty, but I am also very involved in band and numerous honor societies here. Looking forward to doing great work this year!
