Mary Ellen Mack  In just the matter of an hour, Latin turned from a friendly Winter Carnival community to all-out war. After the seemingly endless gathering announcements, there was one in particular that caught the attention of the student body—Student Government announced a school-wide game of Assassin. The premise of the game is that every student receives a “target,” and the goal is to pin the target down with a clothespin. Once you “kill” your target, you receive the the person that your target was hunting. And the cycle continues. Many people were engaged in the spirit of this game, although it did have its flaws. The first day was undeniably the roughest, with kids running around the library attempting to kill. Many had forgotten that the game had already begun and were killed in an instant. Sophomore Jack Tempone, for example, considered his “death” unfair. “Isa Lostaglio killed me when I sat down to eat lunch and I wanted a redo,” said Tempone. Sophomore Bianca Voss had a similar experience. “I forgot we were playing and then Kenny Moll killed me right away.” Voss is believed to be the first person in the whole school to get out in Assassin. In an instant, Latin had been transformed into utter chaos, with millions of rules broken and students going to extremes to kill their target. As the week went on, though, the game got less intense. Teachers had now established rules, such as no playing in the Library or the Learning Resource office. Students were no longer allowed to play after 3:20, alleviating stress for many. However, in some ways, the game became more stressful as the week went on, as students had more time to get invested. Sophomore Taylor Hurt was concerned about her commitment to the game. “It got to the point where I was more concerned about Assassin than my math test,” Hurt said. She was among many students who threw themselves full throttle into Assassin. One of the most competitive players was sophomore Zavella Sanders, who was described by some as “comically good at the game.” Sophomore Cameron Cozzi, unlike most, didn’t enjoy the game at first. “I wasn’t really into it,” said Cozzi. “But then the freshman that I was supposed to kill started cheating so then I had to get her.” The game also did not end exactly according to plan. There were still many people left to be “killed” in Assassin and there was no clear cut winner. But, in the end, we all got to let our guard down and briefly forget about being hardworking high school students in order to have some classic fun.    ]]>