The last few months of the school year hold many different meanings for everyone, and more specifically, for the different classes. Freshmen are relieved to have survived their first year of high school and they look forward to not being at the bottom of the totem pole anymore. Sophomores practice their parallel parking and count down the days until they get their licenses. Juniors start to think about where they might apply to school next year and begin to think about their post-graduation plans. Seniors, however, begin to realize that after they walk across the stage on June 19th, they will never walk the halls of Hunterdon Central with their peers ever again.
There are so many “senior-perks” that seniors have waited their turn for. Late in and early out privileges, parking spots on campus, senior prom, and the most fun of them all- water wars.
“Water wars” or “Senior Assassin” as some other schools may call it, is a bracket competition where teams of 4-6 students will be paired up against each other and have to eliminate the other team with water guns in order to advance.
It’s no secret when water wars start, as it’s all students are talking about. (It’s also the reason the number of cop cars in Flemington increase.)
However, this year’s competition is not played in typical bracket fashion, which means that students have had to make an effort to read the rule book in order to play correctly.
For example, these first two weeks are based solely off of points. There are 62 teams competing, and only the top 40 teams will advance after these points rounds.
You can get points in a variety of ways, such as getting the other team out with water guns, or with challenges that the water wars council assigned to teams.
Whether it’s a points system or bracket-based competition, it is clear that the class of 2024 will stop at nothing to win. Despite the good-natured competitiveness, it has been a fun way to bond with your peers.
One of the disadvantages of attending a big high school is the fact that you may not know every single person in the class very well. For students at small schools, they can struggle with branching out and meeting new people. Here, you could meet someone new every single day if you wanted.
You may be in certain classes or activities where you do have to branch out and meet new people, but Water Wars specifically forces you to get to know people who are unfamiliar to you.
Some of this “getting to know someone” is in a creepy sense. For example, finding someone’s work schedule or their address isn’t exactly the most tasteful way to say, “Hi, nice to meet you.”
Or, maybe you have a ton of fun with your opposing team and you decide to stay in touch. Anything can happen in Water Wars!
The Class of 2024 has had quite the high school experience. Freshman year, it was a hybrid schedule where half of the students would go to school Monday and Tuesday, the other half Thursday and Friday. Plus, Virtual Wednesday, where everyone was home, including staff. Towards the end of the year, students all integrated back into school and classes consisted of more than 6 people each.
Sophomore year marked the first time there was a state of normalcy in school. This was a bit of an adjustment for everyone as we hadn’t had the typical, freshman experience.
And after that, Junior and Senior year were as “normal” as they could have been. While these past two years have been the more normal of the four, I think I speak for everyone when I say that they’ve flown by.
2-ish months left of school (and many more weeks of Water Wars) and the Class of 2024 has truly become their own. Be smart, have fun, and enjoy the rest of the ride.
