Principal Tim Hornig has announced that as of now there will be no water balloon fight at the end of the year for seniors, which has been a tradition for three years. However, Hornig will consider continuing the water balloon fight if students agree to have the fight under the control of the staff.

Last year’s water balloon fight in senior court was turned into an event that does not represent SDA, Hornig said. Assistant Principal Doug Kamon was struck in the eye during the fight with a water balloon and was knocked to the ground. He had to go see medical professionals, and his fall resulted in a concussion and a torn meniscus. Kamon declined to be interviewed.

The water balloon fight changed progressively as the years passed, Hornig said. The first year it started as a group of seniors throwing water balloons at each other.  The next year it escalated to seniors targeting people coming out of classrooms. Then this past year it reached the point that seniors were on the roofs and some of the water balloons were loaded with pennies and airsoft pellets in attempt to make them harder, he said.

“It’s gotten to the point where we need to address it,” said Hornig.

Nobody has been hurt to the extent of Kamon in previous years, but teachers still have felt that the water balloon fight has shown lack of control and puts people in harm’s way with the possibility of wetting their belongings or hurting them physically.  The staff was disappointed by the actions of the seniors this past year, said Hornig.

In the past, the staff had tried to simply control the situation as opposed to attempting to completely diffuse it, but then students were not climbing onto roofs or trying to make things that would hurt others Hornig said.

“It grew to beyond senior court; kids were throwing balloons all the way to science. When I was there, we just tried to move to an area to keep it relatively controlled. Last year the group was obviously larger and so quite honestly we didn’t do a good enough job,” said Hornig.

Hornig is open to other alternatives in order to give the seniors one last fling. “I don’t mind the idea of a water balloon fight; it just needs to be in a controlled environment. It’s not to say ‘absolutely not, if anybody does anything like this were going to kick you out of school,’ but instead how do we offer an opportunity yet at the same time make sure of the safety of those who’ve taken part,” said Hornig.