Elaina Wang

Freshman Athmika Sivaramakrishnan and Nick McGrorey participate in “Sticker Assassins,” tagging each other with stickers. “I think it’s a really sweet idea to get all of us [freshmen] together,” Sivaramakrishnan said.

Starting on May 19, The Class of 2029 “Sticker Assassins” will officially begin. Planned by the Class of 2029 Student Council, the game will be a month-long event modeled after “senior assassins” where participating students in the senior class attempt to eliminate each other using water guns.

“Sticker assassins,” as the name suggests, begins when students receive targets to “tag.” The “tagging” occurs with stickers—students track down their target and tag them with a sticker, which has to stay on the target’s body for more than three seconds. Students also have safeties, which can range from a beach towel draped around the water to a pineapple balanced on one’s head. As long as students are wearing their safeties, they cannot be tagged nor eliminated.

“We were talking about fun fundraisers to do, and then the concept of senior assassins came up, and we were like, why don’t we adopt that and do something [similar] for the freshmen?” class treasurer Michelle Kim said. “We obviously have more time at the end of the year, and we should probably do something fun while we have the freedom.”

While “sticker assassins” was based on “senior assassins,” there are a multitude of differences between the two. For one, stickers will be used to “assassinate” targets instead of water guns. In addition, safeties, time periods, inital costs, and safe spots will be different from the original “senior assassin.”

“The original cost to [participate] will be $5, and then the buy-ins will be decided by how many people are remaining each round,” Kim said. “So if there’s only like a little bit of people, then the buy-in’s going to be a lot more expensive because you’re joining with a lot of people already eliminated. But if there’s still a lot of people left, then buying-in would be less.”

However, an “assassins” game doesn’t come without challenges. Taking into account integrity violations and rule-breakers, it’s important to abide by the rules set by the hosts.

“I feel like recording the evidence: you need to have either a video of you getting the person out or a picture or you and that person agreeing that they got eliminated, like having their thumbs up,” Kim said. “Integrity [is] super important. If you were eliminated, then you have to say that you were eliminated.”

While “sticker assassins” is a competitive game, the crux of the event doesn’t revolve around a student vs. student mentality — rather, it is a community building fundraiser that allows freshmen to be more involved and acquainted with each other.

“[There] are definitely community building aspects,” Kim said. “I feel like this is a really great way to have fun at the end of the year because it’s the end of the year: you deserve something fun to look forward to. It is like a competition between people, but it also builds bonds.”