The seductive scent of danger suffuses the air. I watch Upper Schoolers trudge past me, no neon guns in their sweaty hands, and I feel alert, alive, and deeply paranoid. Fun isn’t dead when you’re squirting water at a classmate’s head. 

At a class meeting in August, the grade proposed a game of senior assassin. In late April, thanks to the senior class cabinet (mostly president Julia H.), the game finally was up and running.

26 people signed up—a small percentage of a 72-person grade. The most important rule of senior assassin—that the game must be played on Westridge campus—may have been why. According to multiple seniors, this wasn’t what they’d anticipated when the game was originally pitched. When asked why she wasn’t playing, Hannah L. ’24 explained, “I wanted [senior assassin] to be off campus…it’s a lot more fun.” 

Safety concerns largely motivated the decision to keep the game on campus, and senior and ASB president Ray K. defended this rule, saying, “I do think it would have been more successful if it could have been done off campus. But I also understand why the decision was made to keep it on campus. We didn’t want people to stalk people out of class, and people have different access to cars—we all have different lives.”

The rules continue: Every Sunday, Julia H. sends an email containing your target for the week—and good luck staying alive until then. You can’t shoot people during class time or AM band activities. You must shoot people outside. Your assassination only counts if it’s caught on video. There are no safety zones, no immunity to be won, and no second chances.

Victories and deaths are cataloged in a public spreadsheet. At the time of writing, only two souls remain. May the best assassin win glorious bragging rights. And, according to Julia H., a trophy in Steamworks. 

In a class whose freshman year was online, in a school that isn’t renowned for its spirit, senior assassin might be the game to bring us together—or further emphasize our differences. 

Ray K. ’24 said, “Senior assassin forced people to connect, or at least just spend time, with people they didn’t usually interact with. But I also think it added unnecessary stress to some people’s relationships with others. I think it’s unavoidable for tension to rise out of this.” 

While that may have been true, participants like Mili L. ’24 smiled recalling her senior assassin experience. “It was interesting to see how into the game everyone got—it brought a sense of excitement to our last weeks of school. I didn’t really get to experience the full extent of the game, but it was still a lot of fun to see people enjoying it so much.” 

On that note, a senior who asked to remain unnamed concluded our interview with a call “to bring back our girlish whimsy.” Maybe class-wide games are the key to bringing back gender-neutral whimsy, school spirit, and general goodwill.