A buy-in, a Nerf gun, and 91 competitive high school students: Every Spring UPrep’s senior class participates in a non-school sanctioned competition called Senior Assassin.
During the game, students have a limited amount of time to eliminate their targets. As the competition progresses, targets change and the probability of winning the money grows. While the game may seem harmless on paper, some of today’s seniors feel participating can have deeper implications for others.
Washington State requires expulsions of students who bring firearms on elementary or secondary school campuses. The Office of Justice Programs states that criminal convictions can bar people from employment, public housing, or reuniting with family.
Racial disparities in policing are real issues that some students, like Bethania Bahru, are forced to think about when choosing to partake in games like Senior Assassin. Bahru participated in her own assassin game through her church.
“All the parents were like, they cannot be running around with guns because, you know, you’re black, and that’s the first time we realized it was in the game,” Bahru said
Bahru notes her black identity enables her to be more aware of the negative implications of the game.
According to a 2023 report by the Washington State Center for Court Research, black people were 2.5 times more likely to have charges filed than their share of the population in all counties.
Senior advisor, BSU facilitator, and Physical Education teacher James Johnson is conscious of these facts in his daily life.
Johnson wouldn’t advise black students to participate in the game, fearing how they will be perceived.
“As a black man, I don’t want my niece or my nephew outside playing with Nerf guns for fear of someone thinking that that’s an actual, real gun,” Johnson said.
Johnson also recognizes that participating in the game is a privilege when students don’t have traumatic experiences.
“This game may be okay at Mercer Island, it’s okay here at University Prep, [but] it’s probably not at Foster because they have students who have suffered from gun violence,” Johnson said.
Bias in police calls is an issue that then 12-year old Isaiah Elliot faced in 2020 in Colorado Springs. According to the Washington Post, police were sent to Elliot’s home after a teacher noticed him playing with a toy gun over zoom. Elliot was then suspended for 5 days after a school report stated that he brought a fake firearm to school, even though it was remote learning.
White Aspiring Allies faculty advisor and science teacher Moses Rifkin believes varying experiences involving Senior Assassin should be taken into account. Still, people don’t always take those concerns seriously.
“We’re so quick to say, ‘It doesn’t seem like a big deal, so I’m just not going to think about it anymore,’” Rifkin said. “I’ve tried to learn, if a person of color says this is a problem, even if I don’t see it as a problem, to think, ‘Okay, I’m gonna put my energy behind treating that as if it’s a problem.’
Bahru stresses the perspective of a person of color in Senior Assassin.
“That lens is not very clear for people other than people of color, because no one else really realizes it,” Bahru said
Hana Hyde graduated last year, and considered privilege among many other things while organizing the game.
“Cost is a barrier for a lot of people in playing these kinds of games,” Hyde said. “Along with privilege, we wanted to make sure that students who took trips during breaks weren’t exempt just because they could afford to take a trip.”
Hyde and the organizers paused the game over break to ensure that privilege did not impact the outcomes of the competition.
Seattle Police Department’s Sergeant Patrick Michaud has not noticed any trends in the people reported on for Senior Assassins. The biggest concern that people have when calling about the game is the safety of everyone.
“It is important for people to be able to go out there and feel safe in their community, but also it is just as important for kids to be able to go out there and have a good time,” Michaud said.
Director of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging Taylor Kanemori, encourages this year’s seniors to be aware of the effect the games could have.
“We always have to be thinking about our impact on the community and the pros and cons of that,” Kanemori said.“ You have to recognize the emotional cost of something, the financial cost of something, and the cost of belonging in something.”
Bahru also hopes that her peers will pay more attention to the varying experiences surrounding Senior Assassin at UPrep.
“I don’t think it needs to come to a stop.” Bahru said “I would definitely say that people should understand if people don’t want to play.”
