Senior assassin, an annual Sidwell tradition where seniors must eliminate their assigned targets by squirting them with a water gun, began on April 27. The game, organized on the app Splashin, serves as a bonding moment for the seniors before they part ways, according to senior Jada Rue.
Seniors are randomly assigned targets and have a set period of time to eliminate them before the targets are reshuffled. Splashin allows assassins to view their targets’ locations every ten minutes, making it easier to hunt them down.
Participants can gain immunity from elimination by wearing a swim cap, goggles or even life jackets. They can also seek refuge in designated safe zones, including the Sidwell campus. The game also features “purge days,” where no one has a designated target and unlimited eliminations can occur.
Along with Splashin, the seniors also stay updated on the game by checking itsdedicated Instagram page, @foxesassassin2025. The seniors have employed many creative tactics including hiding in bushes or luring friends into their cars. Some have taken more extreme measures, such as following their targets home to eliminate them or surprising their peers in unexpected or far away locations.
One senior even went as far as to wait hours in the trunk of his target’s car to catch them by surprise but remained anonymous, stating, “[Upper School Dean of Students] Speece does not like people sitting in trunks.”
Senior Asher Sedwick only eliminated one target, but he felt that he “planned it very well, tricking [his target] into thinking we were meeting up with someone from another school and helping get them out in senior assassin for their school. “
“My friend from another school suggested we take a picture without our goggles on so we all took them off, and then I shot my target,” he described.
In response to the various offensive strategies, seniors had various strategies to steer clear of their assassins. Senior Jada Rue, who was automatically eliminated from the game after failing to eliminate her targets, said the most effective strategy to avoid getting eliminated is “not leaving one’s house at all.” Senior Emily Klein said that “living farther from Sidwell” has helped her stay in the game.
Many people were shocked when they were eliminated at unsuspecting locations. Senior Deanna Paukstitus said that in order to get her target out, she surprised her at a bus stop.
Another anonymous senior surveyed claimed that so far they had eliminated four people. They usually “waited outside [their target’s] house or had [their target’s] friends help [them].” Additionally, seniors took advantage of purge days to eliminate any person of their choice.
By employing various tracking and creative ideas, many seniors found themselves cleverly utilizing their resources to eliminate more targets and win senior assassination.
Ultimately, many seniors surveyed concluded that senior assassin further connects their grade through the Quaker SPICES trust, equality and community. Rue said, “[P]eople are honest on whether or not they got out, and people try to be as safe as possible, while also not trying to disturb their community.”
According to senior Daniel Marelli, seniors are able to build community through teamwork, especially during purges. “Everyone has an equal chance of winning,” Marelli added.
Several seniors, including Marelli, agreed that working together with the target’s friends was the most effective way to eliminate people.
Marelli advised future players to “get kills early on so you can coast through the more difficult days.”
Although the seniors are already finished with school, several seniors have expressed concern about balancing senior projects with the game.
Marelli said he needs more “[eliminations]soon but senior projects are taking up a lot of [his] time.”
Rue said she “helped a friend get someone out after they got out of rehearsal! We followed behind him, while I recorded and got them out!”
“I thought senior assassin was a great and peaceful way to connect as a grade and enjoy having fun in our last days and weeks of being seniors,” stated Sedwick.
Although the school year is coming to a close, the seniors still find opportunities to bond as a grade and Senior Assassin helps bring them together.