It’s passing period, and students are walking to their second-period classes. Suddenly, Morgan McClinton (’26) sprints down the hallway, with Skylar Roberts (’26) right behind her, smirking and holding a clothespin. McClinton dashes for her class, almost making it to safety, when the door shuts in front of her and the clothespin lands on her shirt.
The Senior Hunt is a game that has been played at Archer for many years, resulting in countless elimination stories, predictions and new rules. While it is referred to nationwide as Senior Assassin, Archer has its own school-specific version requiring a clothespin for safety and school spirit. The game started Monday, Jan. 26 and ended with a final fight on the backfield Friday, Jan. 30.
The Senior Hunt involves getting assigned a target faculty member or senior student to eliminate using a clothespin. The pin must latch onto a person’s shoes or shirt. If the target gets out, the student then takes the eliminated student’s target, which is written on their clothespin. If the student makes it to the final day of the Hunt, they then try to pin other remaining players with a clothespin until there is one winner.
Twelfth grade Dean of Culture, Community and Belonging Stephanie Nicolard has been participating in The Senior Hunt since she first became a dean in 2019. This year, there have been some changes involving predicting the winner, Nicolard said. The winner either received a free dress day or a $10 gift card, but Nicolard said the game is difficult and it is hard to get the final prize.
“It’s also really stressful,” Nicolard said, “so it’s sort of a relief when you get out, but some students take it so seriously.”
This year, 12th grade also gave the same prize to the student or faculty member who made the most accurate prediction of what would happen in the Senior Hunt. Students can predict the overall winner, who will be the first person to get out and more through a Google form sent out in a class meeting. With the competitive nature, students have had to come up with new strategies to remain undetected. Sara Salehi (’26) said she had to be creative in finding protection.
“You have to … enlist the help with a lot of different grades,” Salehi said. “So I have to ask my sister, who’s in 10th grade, and all her friends to help me out.”
KJ McPherson (’26) said students were using wild tactics to stay in the game, including throwing whatever objects were in hand at their target. She described an intense moment she witnessed during the week.
“Two people were running in the language hall,” McPherson said, “and someone splashed their assassin in the face with a fruit smoothie.”
Nicolard also said during the Senior Hunt last year, she was lured out of her classroom by another teacher under “serious circumstances,” just to be tricked by a student lurking in the corner.
This year, senior Evan Weingarten made it to the final day and became the overall winner of the Senior Hunt. She said she wasn’t even trying to win; she only wanted to make it to the second day.
“It was a really great feeling to win,” Weingarten said. “I became a little bit of a competitive person, and then in the game overall, I’ve seen so many seniors before me play.”
According to Nicolard, the key to staying in the Hunt the longest is to be stealthy. Salehi also said the best people in the game lie about who they have as a target.
“It’s been a senior tradition for a long time. Archer has its own intense version of this game,” Nicolard said. “People are competitive, tensions get high.”
