For this year’s round of Senior Assassin, spearheaded by commissioners Jack Bell and Kate O’Sullivan, there were 150 seniors playing for the chance to win roughly $1,500. There were four rounds, the last one commencing on the 22nd of May and ending mid June. The last round had whittled itself down to just seven players left; Kyle Addis, Sydney d’Entremont, Will Castro, Charlie Sutherby, Katie Pelton, Jared Breakiron, and Drew Wheeler. What made this years final round so interesting was the commissioner’s decision to make it a free-for-all. Traditionally, every person has a target and is a target. While that was semi true, they were still hunting and being hunted, they could assassinate anyone and be assassinated by anyone. Eventually, in the end, the pot got split three ways, between winners Katie Pelton, Jared Breakiron, and Sydney d’Entremont. I got the chance to sit down with two of them, Sydney and Jared, to hear what their experience with the game was and what process led them to an extra $366 dollars in their bank accounts.
I was interested as to see if they had followed the game in the past, and had they gone into their senior year anticipating the game. To my surprise Sydney and Jared both said no, they had known a little about the competition from the past, but hadn’t given it much thought. I thought this was odd considering how strangely invested I am in the game; I had thought it was a senior tradition to look up to as an underclassman, not unlike the senior prank. I was also intrigued to hear if the winners had gone in with a competitive mindset, but they had agreed neither had envisioned winning when they gave Jack Bell ten dollars back in April.
Throughout the competition Sydney got Renee Evans, Ryan Byrd, Beatrice Penot, and Drew Wheeler. From the “RadnorAssassin18” instagram account where certain kills were documented it was well known Katie got out Will Castro in the final round to secure the a first-round victory. Jared sniped John Callaghan, Chase Rufo, Tim North, Justin Callan, Jason Hurle, and Charlie Sutherby. With those six victims, that makes him the competitor with the most kills. For most kills, he got an additional prize of $300 dollars. This year he got the pleasure of being both a winner and the most cunning, it’s not typically a winner who gets the title. Last year, senior Owen Braithwaite got the title of most kills, but he was not one of the three winners in the end. When Jared was asked about being the most ruthless in the grade, he sort of laughed, as if he doesn’t accept the title. “It just happened,” he said, and as he explained it to me it really did seem as if he got lucky in the middle rounds. One kid surrendered, and the next target was easy. His total just racked up easily, putting him significantly above everyone else.
Neither of the two had any crazy strategies, both kept their targets either confidential or revealed them to a tight knit circle, and both had sibling or parent patrols around the premises of their houses when they wanted to leave. Sydney commented that she switched her car from parking out front to parking in an attached garage to aid her coming and going from home. Nothing too out of the usual. I asked the two about their decision to win as a couple, they are, to my knowledge, the first pair to have done so in Radnor’s history, and they said it wasn’t that hard. They both managed to get into the last round, which had been made a free-for-all, and they knew at least one of them would win. They told me they made a pact to have one of them shoot the other on the last night of the round if they couldn’t be more successful; one winner between the two of them is better than no winner between the two of them. Later Sydney said she had heard through friends that Katie had expressed interest in a three way split, and it all worked out from there.
I asked Sydney and Jared if they heard any noteworthy stories from this years round. First, they chronicled a tale involving a mistaken identity and Nick Adams’ water gun-cam, but I don’t think it’s quite mine to tell. However, later, the pair did tell me about the final night in the last round. Charlie Sutherby was intent on getting out Jared, and for some reason Drew Wheeler might have been there too, and to my understanding there was “Kyle Addis” chasing Drew around, but later it was revealed that this “Kyle” was actually Jackson Beers, a beloved senior who transferred schools away from Radnor last year, helping out his friend Charlie. Eventually the night ended with Jared on his roof in a standoff with Charlie in his yard, which resulted in the sniping of Charlie by Jared. Jared, having just gotten Charlie from the roof, was the second person secured as a winner, but little did everyone outside know Sydney had been inside during this whole ideal ordeal. A few blocks over, Drew was outside of real Kyle’s house on the phone, trying to negotiate a deal with him. Suddenly Sydney came out of nowhere, shot him out, and ended any potential deal with Kyle. Kyle’s last resort was to get one of the current players out, so he trekked over to Jared’s house a few minutes before midnight, which is when the round ends, to attempt to get him. Alas, he was unsuccessful; Jared had locked himself in.
In order to get the whole experience of assassin I also talked to one of the commissioners Jack Bell. He had apparently deliberated for a while as to if he wanted to compete or not, but “Track Bell” was concerned with getting shot during one of his runs through Wayne. Rather than sacrifice both playing and his runs, he decided it was best for him to manage the competition. Being the senior class vice president and known responsible-person, he easily got the job. He relayed to me that it was in fact a stressful job at times, and yes, people did try to bribe him. My two final questions for Jack were about his thoughts on the notorious rule that you can’t get out if you’re naked and how he came to the decision of making the last round a free-for-all. To the first, he said, he actually didn’t know that one, but knew rules similar to it; a friend of his at a different school had told him about a rule where you can’t get out if you’re holding a box of Cinnamon Toast crunch.  The second one was actually the idea of one of our very own teachers, Mr. Krupp. Jack tossed the idea out to a couple of friends, they all liked it, and thus the idea was born. Hopefully this change will impact the game in years to come.
Overall, the competition this year had some tough competitors out there, but three prevailed in the end. The wild plots weren’t the iconic angle to the game this year, but the innovations of the game itself is what will cement it in Radnor history as a good year. For games in the future hopefully there is another instagram account instead of facebook group so people of all grades can enjoy the tradition, a free-for-all final round, and hey, maybe even a Cinnamon Toast Crunch rule.
Until next time, decide what Super Soaker™ is for you and diagram your sibling parols,
Abby