Senior Assassin Brings Eliminations and Entertainment

Art by Raha Ghoroghchian / The Samohi

On Feb. 17, the seniors began their game of senior assassin- attempting to spray each other with water to “assassinate” a target given.

The plan was implemented by an Instagram account, @samohi2025assassin, which used the platform to spread the word and organize the seniors. To play, a senior must pay five dollars to get their name added and submit a photo of themselves. The seniors were then given a target to find and spray with water. The targets switched every two weeks and everyone joined a site to keep their locations on so the assassins could know where their victims were. The eliminations could only happen off campus, before or after someone's employment hours and outside of sports practices and tutoring. One’s own house was a haven as well unless let in by a family member. Physical contact and non-water blasters like gel and orbeez were banned after a majority vote. @samohi2025assassin, the sole coordinator, said they were excited about creating games for the seniors.

“I was talking to my friend on the weekend about how no one was running it and I just decided I would,” @samohi2025assassin said. “It was pretty difficult at first trying to keep track of who paid me and trying to get photos from every single person. But frequent story posts and Google Sheets helped manage it easier.”

There were also safety items put into place that changed every two weeks, such as goggles and fanny packs - where a senior must be wearing their safety item to be counted as safe and unable to be eliminated. The eliminations must also be filmed, with the target visible- during or after the splash- or the target must admit to getting terminated. A twist the coordinator added was purge rounds, in which every Friday, everyone participating would be allowed to eliminate anyone they wanted to, regardless of target status or not. @samohi2025assassin discusses how the word spread.

“We are at around 300 players currently,” @samohi2025assassin said. “Instagram helped spread information to the majority of players, but I heard a lot of people talking about it at school.”

Nayeli Lopez (’25), a senior participating in the assassination, said she finds it more entertaining due to the questioning of who has who and the possibility of sudden elimination. She believes that coming to school is much more rewarding now that such chances exist. Lopez describes how she attempts to find and assassinate her targets, especially in such a large school.

“I ask my friends if they know my target,” Lopez said. “Or I’ll try and ask their friends. Typically, we kind of know a lot of people, so I’ll get their schedule and I’ll figure out whether or not they have practice. I had my last target's address, so it’s like if you know who to go to, you’ll get all the information you need.”

Dalyla Cunningham (’25) also used a telephone game to find her information. She also believes that sportier players will win, especially those who are more serious.

“I feel like [the winner] is going to be like a guy who's intense about it,” Cunningham said. “Maybe some kind of sport or something like that. There's some people that I feel like would take it really seriously and fully run after people and stuff.”

The top five assassins are Luisa De Lorenzo (’25) with seven kills, Blue Hunter (’25), with four kills and Sabrina Livingston (’25), Ben Defranco (’25) and Steven Petramale (’25), all with two kills. As of this moment, the game is continuing, with the competitors slowly dwindling and the energy becoming more competitive. Cunningham discusses her opinion and the way both seniors and non-seniors have interacted with the senior assassin game.

“I like it,” Cunningham said. “I think it’s fun to have something to do, just because I feel like recently there haven’t been that many activities and stuff. It’s kind of nice to have something that all the seniors are involved in. From what I can tell, the seniors are taking it kind of seriously. For the rest of the school population, I can’t completely say, but I have a few junior friends who seem kind of interested in what’s happening. So I guess for them it’s also like something to hear about and something entertaining.”