Open Instagram on the phone of any NHS student from mid-April to May and you will scroll through dozens upon dozens of @needham2024futureplans and @needhamassassins24 posts. And, of course, while the college commitments are interesting, there is nothing more entertaining than the videos of our beloved soon-to-be-graduates being hunted down with water guns.
This may sound bizarre if you’ve never heard of Senior Assassins, a tradition across the schools of America, including Needham, when seniors arm themselves with water guns and compete to be the last student standing. Each “assassin” is assigned a target (one of their fellow classmates). They must escape their own “assassin” while also shooting their target with water before the end of each round. If they do not succeed in time or get shot themselves, they are out.
Bragging rights are far from the only motivator in Senior Assassins, however. This year, each student paid $12 to play, and each of the 5 winners took home $570! No wonder the competition got so intense.
Updates have been constant on the Senior Assassins Instagram, but by May 11th, there were only 10 people left standing. A few standoffs later, five winners prevailed: Àlex G, Joe L, Nate S, Anna L, and the Hilltopper’s very own recent alum, Aideen M!