‘Senior Assassin’ sport prompts warnings, however college students say it’s all in good enjoyable

It’s been a senior yr custom — in some type — for years at excessive colleges: Grade 12 college students chasing and “eliminating” one another with water pistols for bragging rights.

It’s generally referred to as the “Senior Assassin” sport and now there’s an app that collects video proof and tracks the chief scoreboard.

Students collaborating will be seen operating round with goggles and pool floaties, which provides gamers immunity.

“We’ve been looking forward to it since the Grade 12 students played last year,” stated Chloe Mackenzie, a senior at Sackville High School outdoors Halifax.

The sport at Sackville High isn’t sanctioned by the college and there are strict guidelines the place college students should play off faculty property.

The gamers themselves have imposed strict guidelines, too.

“We are very strict on the fact that if anybody’s caught taking somebody out on a video with like a real-looking gun (…) the person that has the real-looking gun is out,” she stated.

Her older sister, Hilary Mackenzie, was a senior final yr and has her personal fond reminiscences of the sport.

“It was a lot of fun because we all run around school, chasing each other at lunchtime with the water guns trying to get each other out,” she stated.

“And you’d see kids running out of the school to their cars at lunch so they could get into their cars so nobody could get them.”

But throughout the nation, the sport — and its recognition — is elevating issues for college officers and police.

Safety issues

Police in Ontario have warned concerning the security dangers tied to the Senior Assassin sport this week. In some instances, the scholars use Nerf-style or pellet weapons to “eliminate” each other.

“Some of the imitation guns used in this game closely resemble real firearms,” stated Supt. Bill Berg of the London Police Service Uniformed Division.

Earlier this week, Strathcona County RCMP in Alberta stated they responded to a report of three youths believed to be pointing firearms out the window of a transferring car.

Police stated it turned out to be water weapons as a part of the Senior Assassin sport.

Last May, Strathmore High School in Alberta was positioned below lockdown and a suspect was arrested when it appeared somebody had proven up on the faculty with a firearm. That additionally turned out to be a water pistol.

A boy was arrested at gunpoint outdoors a Guelph, Ont., faculty final yr, as properly, due to the sport.

“Strathcona County RCMP are reminding participants to be mindful of how their actions may be perceived by others. In particular, the use of toy or replica weapons in public spaces can cause alarm,” RCMP wrote Thursday.

“Interactions that may seem harmless among participants can be misinterpreted by others who are unaware of the game.”

Last moments of childhood

For Hilary, who’s now a primary yr arithmetic scholar at Acadia University, the sport brings again good reminiscences and she or he believes it deserves to be a convention if performed responsibly.

“It was one thing that my senior class actually did together. I know a lot of us didn’t get along all the time, but it was one thing we all got to have fun together and just laugh about it,” she stated.

She has some phrases of knowledge for college students enjoying the sport this yr, noting her classmates opted to make use of vibrant greenback retailer water weapons that had been clearly toys.

“To the kids playing it, play with stuff that is obviously water guns. Don’t be spray painting it or change the color or anything,” she stated.

“Make sure people can see that you are not a threat and that you’re just running around and having fun.”

The sisters’ mom, Deanne, has been a giant supporter of the team-building sport and issued a “public service announcement” on Facebook in an effort to make individuals conscious of the sport. She additionally acknowledged the actions can seem alarming.

“If you see teenagers hiding behind cars, lurking in bushes, sprinting through parking lots or acting wildly suspicious … don’t panic,” she wrote.

“They are enjoying the last moments of childhood,” she added.

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