College decision day has come and gone, and the senior class is ready to take the next step in their education. Amid the excitement of getting ready for college, many seniors are losing interest in high school and have began slacking in their classes. In other words, senioritis is in full swing. Urban Dictionary describes senioritis as “a crippling disease that strikes high school seniors. Symptoms include: laziness, an over-excessive wearing of track pants, old athletic shirts, sweatpants, athletic shorts, and sweatshirts. Also features a lack of studying, repeated absences, and a generally dismissive attitude. The only known cure is a phenomenon known as Graduation.” Ways to deal with these unmotivated feelings and boredom include skipping school, playing games in class, and of course, Senior Assassin. For those who do not know, Senior Assassin is a game played among the senior class at IHS. It has become a tradition at the high school, and almost every student looks forward to participating once their time comes. “As a little freshman I watched all the seniors running around the halls tackling each other and it looked like so much fun,” says senior Brecklyn Beighle.

The way the game works is that each person is given a target who they must eliminate, and an unknown assassin who is trying to eliminate them in return. The way to eliminate someone is through a marking of the skin (from the chin down) with a marker. Students have many approaches and strategies that they use in order to get to their target. Senior Beck Taylor says, “I had friends in ASB who gave me my target’s schedule” so he could track them down. “Don’t attempt attacks unless he or she is vulnerable,” said senior Arthur Nosenko. Senior Ahsen Ali echoed this statement, saying, “I’ve seen people charge at one another but I found that as a useless strategy. I chose to catch my target by surprise and get them when they least expect it.” Along with chasing after their targets, students have to stay alive. In order to protect themselves, students take extreme precautions, covering as much of their body as possible. Senior Katie Sanders said that she wore “leggings tucked into high socks, a tank top tucked into my leggings, a sweatshirt, a neckwarmer, and taped gloves to my sweatshirt.” Ali “wore full protection; a morphsuit under a bunch of gym clothes.” Survival is key in this game, and along with strategies to kill, students had strategies to stay alive. In terms of survival before and after school, students attempted to get into their classes and cars respectively as soon as possible. During lunch, a majority of students ate in their car for protection. As for passing periods, well, no one is really safe. In the words of senior Drew Cohen, “Run, just run.”

Another big aspect of the game is that when someone gets eliminated, a roast about them is posted on Twitter. These tweets receive mixed responses, with students finding them funny most of the time, and a little mean at the same time. “I think they’re funny; you did sign up for it (by signing up for the game) so you had it coming, but if you don’t like them you can have them taken down,” said senior Liz Gorski. After an eventful year with IHS in the news, it would not be good for such tweets to reflect poorly on the environment of the school. “The tweets can serve as a reflection of the school, especially with all that’s been going on this year, but at the same time  people can be so uptight and you can’t make a joke these days without there being a problem,” says Gorski. Katie Sanders opinionated that “The tweets don’t reflect on the entire school, because it’s just a few students who run the twitter so I don’t think it’s right to generalize them as the whole school.” Another potential problem created by the game is the distraction it can create. When asked if the game is a distraction to students and staff, there were mixed opinions. Beighle believes that it is a distraction to students “because they’re constantly worrying about who they’re going to get and who’s after them and where they’re going to go after class.” Ali disagrees, “because it technically took place only during passing periods so it was more of entertainment than a distraction.” As for being a distraction to teachers, most students said no, as “it’s not during their class. However they may get annoyed when students try to pack up and leave early to get their target,” said senior Charlotte Emerson.

With all the distractions Senior Assassin creates, why does the school even allow the game to be played? Almost every senior cited tradition, with Beck Taylor describing how “most of the time there’s not a lot of accidents and overall it is something to do to have fun. Administration likes giving seniors this event to look forward to.” “The roasts, and the comradery it creates with the entire senior class makes it a tradition every year,” said Drew Cohen. All of this years seniors showed their support for the game to continue to be played as well. Ahsen Ali stated that “the game should absolutely be continued to be played because it gives us a purpose — there’s not a lot of fun we have at school. For me the things I look forward to in senior year are graduation and Senior Assassin. You don’t know the whole senior class so when you get a target you’re not familiar with you get to know them and expand your knowledge on who’s in your graduating class. It’s also human instinct, we love to hunt.” Overall, Senior Assassin, despite the minor problems it may create, is intended to be nothing more than a fun game for the upcoming graduating class. Personally, I had a lot of fun playing the game this year, and for those of you that have yet to play, may the odds be ever in your favor.