It is Tuesday of STIX 2019, and it is getting heated. Seniors are jumping out of bathroom stalls and scaring unsuspecting freshmen, causing millions of troops to be forced to return home to their families. Although some students have already collected 30 sticks, the question still remains: Who will be the final winner?
STIX has been a tradition for many years now and is one of the most anticipated events of the school year by Kent Place Upper School students. Strategies range from inside spies of the enemy to find out their plan of attack too risky agreements that keep a student safe for up to 4 days. From my time here, I have heard of students finding out their targets’ schedules from friends or by process of elimination. This allows the soldier to follow them between classes to complete their attack.
Senior Amber White reports “waiting outside the freshmen [base camp] for… an hour and a half” to tag the person on her stick. The base camps are considered a “safe space” during STIX, causing them to be overcrowded. They can be very difficult to move through, which is crucial when needing to stock up on supplies.
Many students report the fear and stress that this type to war evokes, but nothing sums up the disappointment of getting tagged better than the poem written by Chelsie Nacelus:
The Fallen Ninja
I tiptoed through the halls
Head swiveled on my neck like a top
Crept stealthily around thin walls
A ninja that could never be stopped
My craftiness never fleeting
Complex strategies beyond compare
Intelligence and prowess always meeting
All who crossed my path wouldn't dare
Alas, one decided to plan her attack
I was her prey, no patience did she lack
I was in the library, being all scholarly
After hours, done with my studies, I snuck out quietly
Yet little did I know that the predator had followed
All my feet had to do was cross the line
Before my stick she swallowed
looked right, looked left
To me, the coast seemed clear
But when I stepped out into the wild
Unfortunately, the end was near
Before I had a chance to scream
She tapped me... bam, gotcha!
and sadly, there you have it
The wretched tale of The Fallen Ninja
It is not easy to get this information in a time full of chaos and fear for a whole school. All we can do is hope for a swift victory to restore Kent Place to its former civility.