On March 26, Senior Assassins was abruptly ended by the game’s admin. The next day, seniors were required by the administration to meet in the South Gym for a special flex where San Mateo Police Activity League’s Youth Services Officers Alison Adle and Carlos Basurto warned against reckless behavior associated with the game.
“There are some safety concerns that are associated with senior assassins,” Adle said in the flex meeting. “Our whole objective is to make sure that you guys are safe and the community is safe. We want you to succeed. We don’t want you blindsided by unexpected consequences. Too often, in moments of excitement or anxiety, we act without thinking. And those actions have serious repercussions.”
Senior Assassins is a non-school-sanctioned game where seniors team up in groups of two to eliminate other teams by spraying them with water. Participants were also required to share their location with the Splashin app, encouraging them to ambush their targets outside of school.
On three separate occasions, participants of senior assassins committed reckless acts around San Mateo, warranting the involvement of the San Mateo police and Aragon administration.
“If you look at our rules compared to other schools, we’re much more strict,” said Olivia King, senior and Senior Assassins admin. “We made it clear that if anyone is being threatening or aggressive we will remove them from the game … All the issues that had arisen recently we didn’t even know about.”
Prior to the school shutting down senior assassins, someone had made a threat on Instagram about attacking the school with a gun on account of senior assassins. This was reported to the administration, who promptly began an investigation with students who they theorized were associated with the poster.
“Everyone knows that it’s just games,” said senior Russell Yee. “I didn’t think [the school] had to take it so seriously.”
The senior assassins game at Junipero Serra High School, another San Mateo high school, was also heavily discouraged by the school administration on March 15 after the school received a phone call threat.
Other incidents involving Aragon students that were reported to police included students throwing eggs at other students’ homes, shooting uninvolved civilians and being reported for looking suspicious. No one was harmed in these.
“Me and my partner were waiting for our target to come out of their house,” said senior Sophia Hsu. “We were sitting there for kind of a long time … [Their neighbor] kept checking their window. Later on, the police showed up … saying, ‘we just got a call that kids were running in and out of a car. We can tell you guys aren’t doing that.’”
To join senior assassins, participants had to pledge $10 per person. Before getting shut down, the prize pot for senior assassins had amassed around $1600. All of that was nonrefundable.
“We had people vote on Instagram on whether they would like [the money] to be donated to class council so we could spend it on events like senior activities day and senior sunset,” King said. “Or we could split the prize pot among the three winners … They voted to donate to class council.”
Senior Assassins is officially canceled for this year, but it is up to next year’s students if it will resume next spring.
“[Senior Assassins] is student-run so we don’t have control over it,” said vice principal David Moore. “We are shutting it down for this year but who knows for the future.”
