As seniors prepare for the end of the year, it can be hard to focus on the positives that coincide with graduation. This can be done in many ways, like prom, senior sunrise, and college signings and acceptances. With tensions high and stresses higher, students may find activities outside of school to suit those stresses best, whether that be social events, contests, competitions, or celebrations.

The Bagpiper staff believes that high school officials should help aid students in hosting self-initiated activities; in return, Floyd Central would maintain a safe environment during student-run events while still allowing them to continue.

One of the most unique and controversial events at FC is Senior Assassin, a student-run event. Senior Assassin is when students take a water or squirt gun and have to find their assigned target within their graduating senior class. The only way to prevent this is to use swim attire during an attempt to get someone out. The last one to hit the final target is declared the winner and receives the prize pot.
While participating in Senior Assassin, students like senior Molly Spitznagel emphasize how the exhilarating anticipation of being more involved with her peers outside of school has led to impatience to win.

The actions involving the imitation of guns have caused many legal issues, including a case in Florida, where there was a misconception of a real shooting versus an innocent game. Of course, this causes concern among school boards, who already have to be aware of the constant threats to students’ education in modern society.
Another good example of student-run activities is a club. While they do have to get permission from the administration, the administration is not in charge of running any of the activities involved. For example, the garden club’s leader, sophomore Chloe Schultheis, prepares all of the activities for each meeting. The card & games club is also an example that eases the educational pressure of finals, AP testing, projects, and academic values by enjoying a silly little game with friends. So, while clubs are associated with school, they are mainly a way of relief from academically pressured environments.

This is an example of how students have already taken the initiative of pushing for greater opportunities within FC. School allows for student-run activities already; however, clubs and events that are catered towards fun student events are not allowed in flex, which is supposed to be a time for students to either complete unfinished work or have a studyhall. While students should not be using every single flex period to goof around or be unproductive, having one or two flex periods per quarter dedicated to an activity that the students enjoy, will give them a well deserved break in between their challenging classes, homework, and tests.

Furthermore, we believe that these problems surrounding safety in student run activities can only be solved by schools using their authority to aid students in coordinating these events, while also creating a safe space to do so. Schools could do this by advising student-made events via their websites as opposed to student-made websites, like the app “Splashin”, which is used for Senior Assassin. While the students are hosting and leading these events, it would only be the school’s job to oversee that there would not be any out-of-hand problems involved.

Ensuring that staff is involved in making sure the students are kept safe is key, which is why using a flex period to garner student recommendations on what they think would be fun to do would appease both students and staff.

In doing this, FC will be able to ensure that students have their guaranteed rights in student-led actions while still being safe, bringing back the promise of fun before the years of eternal adulthood.