‘Senior Assassination’ brings humorous excitement

According to one member of the NRHEG senior class, “about half” of NRHEG twelfth-graders signed up for a school specific, internet-guided contest referred to as “Senior Assassination.”

“The idea is to shoot each other–with water,” explains Harbor Cromwell, who is among the participants. “At the end, the last one ‘still alive’ wins a prize.”

The five-day contest began at midnight the morning of Thursday, May 1. Participants paid a $5 fee, and, as the melee started, were assigned a random classmate whom it was their job to “assassinate.”

“You can see your target’s location on a map,” points out Ava Cummins. “It updates every 10 minutes.”

A number of rules are meant to keep the contest from becoming a major disruption. School counselor Liz Stiernagle, who says she acquainted herself with the rules so she could help monitor student behavior, explains that no “kills” are valid if performed inside the school building or inside the victim’s place of employment. They are also not valid if they “cause a disruption” at a place of employment.

“But the parking lots are fair game,” observes Cummins.

One of the requirements of the contest is that students provide a video of the “assassination.” The video is reviewed by contest managers and the “hit” is declared “valid” or “invalid” depending on whether all specifications are met.

Participants can protect themselves with some rather entertaining types of “armor,” including a life jacket,  inflatable “floaties” armbands of the type young children wear while swimming, or goggles or a swim mask.

Because of “senior assassination,” students began arriving at school Thursday morning wearing various pieces of swim attire. Groups of friends chatted intently during free time regarding the habits and schedules of their respective “targets.”

Cummins described arriving at school around 8 a.m. and waiting in her car until her unknowing target, Jayce Ihrke, arrived. As he got out of his car and started walking toward the school building, she exited her vehicle wearing her red-white-and-blue life jacket while also wearing her backpack and carrying a water pistol and her smartphone. The one was to open fire, the other to record the “kill.”

“I made a big mistake,” Cummins admits. “I started to laugh.”

Ihrke says he saw Cummins approaching, realized he was not wearing his goggles, and was therefore in danger. “I saw Ava pull out the water pistol,” he recalls. “So I shoved Jordan Brouwers in between us, and I ran.

“But I’m good now,” he comments, pulling a pair of swim goggles from his pocket.

In the meantime, he is willing to reveal his assigned “target” is classmate Grace Starman, who because she has morning classes online, typically arrives at school during lunch. As he sees Starman approaching outside, he takes advantage of the lunchtime flexibility to step outside the door, accompanied by friend Jaydn Fleming carrying his smartphone as a video camera.

Starman recognized she was doomed when she saw the water pistol and realized she was not wearing any type of “armor.”

“Just don’t shoot my computer,” she said plaintively.

As of Tuesday, May 6, Stiernagle estimated that relatively few participants had been eliminated, perhaps partly because Prom activities which dominated the prior weekend had also been off limits.

One student suggested that, if very many participants remained at the end of the original five days, he app would implement a “free-for-all,” in which all participants could pursue fellow players.