Senior Assassins has been taking place at Dos Pueblos High School. 185 students were involved, with the event starting multiple weeks ago on March 31. As of Monday, there are three DPHS seniors left: Alexander Hajda (12), Henry Janka (12), and Josue Mena (12).
Senior Class President Hanalora Abel (12) was the main organizer of this event. She figured out the logistics, created rules as she needed to, and defined what the game would look like for this specific senior class.
“It is almost like a game of tag, except everybody’s kind of it at the same time,” Abel said. “Every week, [which is] what a round is, you have to get at least one person out, or otherwise you’re eliminated. And so, not only do you have to be getting one person out per week, but you also have to never get out yourself.”
In Senior Assassins, participants get a new target every week — one that they have to squirt with a water gun before the week is over. Participant Ava Canfield (12) explained the rules of how new targets are decided.
“When you eliminate that target, then that person who they had becomes your new target, but you don’t need to get them done before the week ends,” Canfield said. “You can, but you don’t need to.”
Targets are randomized when a new round starts, so no one ever knows who they are going to have to eliminate next. Sometimes, this can cause personal relationships to interfere with the game, such as with Canfield and her relationship with her target.
“My current target is this guy, Isaiah, who I’m dating,” Canfield said about the round she was in. “We got new targets yesterday, and I kind of feel bad because he’s really into the game, so he’s gonna be kind of pissed off … I think I have to get him because it would be really funny. I just don’t have a plan yet.”
Like Canfield, many people are choosing plans to eliminate their targets that are unexpected to both the target and the other players around them. One such person would be Abel, who got eliminated from the game while barely awake.
“My grandma actually let the guy into my house,” Abel said. “It was like 6 a.m. I had just woken up, … I don’t know what she was thinking, but she let him in, and he squirted me when I was in my bed.”
Because the game lasts a while, some players choose to get eliminated. One of those players is Asher Tucknott (12), who got paid to be squirted and forced out of the game.
“[The guy who got me] was like, ‘Yo, can I pay you to let me shoot you?’” Tucknott said. “I was like, ’yeah, sure’ … And so, Chase paid me 40 bucks, and … we filmed a little bit of him hiding [in] my car. Apparently, not a lot of people realized that [the elimination] was staged, but it was.”
Even without being paid to be eliminated, Abel said she is thankful to be away from the stress of competing in the game.
“The thing I’ll say to [the guy who got me out] is ‘Thank you,’ because the game is actually so much easier to run now that I’m out,” Abel said. “It was really, really hard to try and balance how [it is] equitable for me to run the game and be in [it], and so now, that I’m out … I just think it’s a lot easier to be able to put my foot down on decisions because people aren’t always like, ‘Oh, well, is this benefiting you?’”
Senior Assassins might be ending soon. Despite the competitive nature of the game, Abel said it has brought people together and left a positive impact on DPHS overall.
“I feel like so many people are hanging out outside of school to do this,” Abel said. “Because … obviously nobody really wants to go alone. So, it’s definitely a group thing. And so, I think that’s cool, too. I think it’s [bringing] interesting groups of people together, too … people that you wouldn’t normally hang out with, which is neat.”
It has not been determined if Senior Assassins will take place next year, but Tucknott encouraged seniors next year to participate if given the chance.
“It was really fun,” Tucknott said. “It was really stressful, but it was fun. And to all the juniors out there — if [DPHS does Senior Assassins] next year, you should do it.”
*Updated 5/12/2025
