Senior Assassin has been an ongoing tradition for upperclassmen for years. It starts with signing up for the game through the affiliated Instagram account, where the student will later be added to a Snapchat group chat with all participating players. Then, each player will be assigned their target that they need to eliminate with a water gun by the end of the first round of the game.

Senior and student council member, JoyYingling had a major role in setting up the senior assassin game for the class of 2024.

“To get it going [we had to start] an Instagram and then get the traction and the participation… and [then] just getting a form filled out, with everybody’s information, and then setting up a Snapchat with 140 Something people, [which] is insane, but that’s the only way to do it. And then just making sure that all the rules are listed and everybody knows them, and everybody’s following them, and then creating a roster of who all everybody has,” Yingling said.

Once everyone has their targets, they are able to choose a water gun and safety item. The safety items are for the players to wear when they are out and about to give them immunity from getting out. They had the option to choose between swim floaties, a fanny pack, and goggles. If the player is wearing one of these items, their assassin cannot get them out.

However, there are a couple of other rules that the participants must follow in order to play the game correctly and fairly. These rules were put together by the student council.

For example, assassin “hits” can’t occur on school grounds or at school events, and a senior can’t be targeted at his or her job.

“I knew the people who did it last year, so I kind of copied the rules that they did last year and just modified a few of them to try to make it easier and more fun for everybody, because some of the rules that people didn’t like last year, I tried to fix and kind of alter a little bit for this year,” Yingling said.

They also made some additions to the game like adding a purge day and a bounty list to make the game more fun for everyone. Purge day is where no safety items may be used for 24 hours.

“If you didn’t get your target, you’re put on a bounty list and anyone can get you so just I feel like it makes people more motivated where if they don’t necessarily know their target, then they can get their friend if they’re on the bounty list so it just keeps the game going,” Yingling said.

A determined player in the game is senior Kiahna Melella. She was ecstatic to learn that Wando was going to be participating becauseit was also a big tradition at her old school.

“I had a lot of friends in my old school before I moved here that always bragged about having so much fun doing senior assassin and playing the game and just having a blast with your friends, and then I was like, ‘oh my goodness, they’re doing it here’. So I was excited to just go around with my friends at night [and] have our fun late-night drives and have an excuse for why I’m going out,” Melella said.

Melella combined her competitiveness and love for playing games with hanging out with friends and going for drives to make the game a fun activity that her and her friends can do in their free time.

“I love playing just like fun games with my friends like manhunt and tag. So, I love the idea of senior assassin,” Melella said.

She had a great experience playing the game and thinks it is a fun way to spend her senior year with friends.

“It’s just a really fun game and for anybody who wants to do it next year… I think [you should] just have fun with your friends and do the game. If anybody was ever wondering next year if they should do it or not, I say do it,” Melella said.