Assassins Provides Fun and Charity to CUNE Community

by Abby Wisniewski

Shields, Nerf guns, lightsabers and spoons—all of these are common sights around Concordia’s campus, held at the ready by students participating in Concordia’s fourth annual Assassins competition, in which participants use a variety of creative weapons to eliminate their target. Players advance each week based on survival and their number of “kills.”assa

The competition is run by the Concordia Outdoor Club as an opportunity for students to engage in outdoor activities.

Ultimately, Assassins is meant to be fun, both for the participants and for those who are not playing but who may observe a Nerf battle in the quad.

“You get that chance to live out being your own action hero for a day,” sophomore assassin Ian Hendrickson said.

Each week, the pool of participating players gets smaller, adding to the drama of the game.

“It can get pretty nerve-wracking,” Hendrickson said. “You get really suspicious of everyone. You can’t stop looking over your shoulder. It’s a whole lot of fun.”

The competition also gives participants an opportunity to meet people they might not otherwise interact with.

“It really builds a community,” Outdoor Club member and senior Nicholas Harding said. “It gives great stories to tell.”

For the 2016 competition, “Commander” Harding recruited the support of local businesses, who donated nearly $1,000 in prizes. In past years, prizes were only given to the top three assassins.

This year, there are prizes for the best weapon, best costume, most eliminations, longest 00 status (longest amount of time with more than one kill), best professor assassin, and more.

“Since I got so many prizes, it gave me the opportunity to have so many ways to win them,” Harding said.

The 2016 competition also added the incentive of fighting for a cause. Harding hopes that the incentive of supporting the New Vision Renewable Energy for Africa charity will encourage students to participate or donate. The foundation seeks to provide lights, electricity and safer energy sources to people in Africa.

This is not only the charity for Assassins, but Concordia’s charity for the year as well.

Assassins lasts until the end of February. Harding hopes to see Assassins continue growing over the year, and be able to see it continue after he graduates this spring.