Credit: @waylandassassin24

Senior Andry Nasief eliminates senior Graham Schwendt outside of the WHS commons. Senior Assassin has been a tradition for over a decade. During the spring the graduating class of WHS participates in a competitive and exciting game with their classmates. The game consists of several rounds, involving safety items and water guns.

During the closing weeks of school for each graduating WHS class, students can sign up to take part in a game called “Senior Assassin.” Students enter this heavily strategy based game by paying the price of $5, with the hope to win a $600 prize for the last senior standing. This year, 119 seniors took part in the contest to battle against their fellow classmates.

“Senior assassin was a blast,” senior Brandon Jenkins said. “The thrill of chasing down my opponents was exciting for me.”

Before the game began, there was a list of rules sent to participants by seniors Jasmin Alizadeh and Sophie Roman to inform them about the expectations each player must follow. If someone were to break one of these rules, they would automatically be disqualified from the game.

“It was stressful when there were disputes between people because we knew we were disappointing at least one person with [each] decision we made,” Alizadeh said.

The game consists of “safety items” which declare each participant as safe if correctly executed. This year there were a total of six purges. A purge is when there are no safety items to grant players safety for a 24 hour window during the contest.

“The game was definitely a little stressful,” senior Ava Balukonis said. “You always have to be alert and careful that you don’t slip up and forget your safety item.”

Alizadeh and Roman ran and organized the game by posting and updating necessary information on the @waylandassassin24 Instagram account. Instagram updates were necessary to communicate about rules and safety item changes as the game progressed to further rounds.

The game started off by Senior Liam Wong assassinating fellow classmate Grant Larsen within just a few hours of the start. This kill was due to improper use of the safety item which, at the time, was an oven mitt. Larsen was holding the mitt instead of wearing it on his hand, which made him available to being eliminated.

A few days later, the first purge of the game was set off. Senior Tina Su eliminated senior Jack Quinn, arriving at his house after their school day.

After the fourth purge, senior Dion Marcos betrayed senior Henrique Abecasis by asking to go out to lunch, ending in the assassination of Abecasis.

As the safety items became more challenging to obtain, students were rapidly disqualified and no longer able to participate in the game.

The last kill of the game was executed by senior Giovanni Sebastianelli, executing senior Andry Nasief. The execution took place during the seniors’ hill night, which is when all WHS seniors spend the night at a hill outside together.

The final five participants standing were seniors Zack Goldstein, Lilly O’Driscoll, Andry Nasief, Giovanni Sebastianelli and Ava Balukonis. After strategic play and dedication, Balukonis was named the 2024 Senior Assassin champion, winning $600.

“At the end when it came down to the final five, Gio, Lilly [and I] all worked together and ended up splitting the money, so it was definitely a team effort towards the end,” Balukonis said.