Last day of summer is coming to an end. Excited that tomorrow is going to be my last first day of school, thrilled that this year is going to be my last year of high school. I wake up in the morning with my outfit already planned and laid out on the bottom corner of my bed, my backpack ready to go, and heading out the house while eating my toasted bagel with strawberry cream cheese. I continue the next couple days of school fine until I get my first homework assignment. All I have to do is take notes on this video I watch of a person performing a soccer pass for gym class. It’s very simple, nothing too big. It’s just one assignment.
I couldn’t bring myself to do it. My brain isn’t trying anymore. It might just be because I don’t like homework or it might be because I have a very serious case of senioritis.
Senioritis can have multiple definitions but to sum it all up students in high school who are seniors have no motivation and don’t really try in their last school year. “ I would say senioritis hit me even before my senior year. The end of junior year I would skip classes twice a week due to overstimulation,” West Ottawa graduate Jaqulein Brajas said. This made her last two high school years very difficult for her and made her very stressed about all the work that was to come her way. There’s never really a specific time when seniors get senioritis, some get it before they even become seniors and can get it their junior year. Some students get it towards the end of the month. It varies for everyone.
“When I would skip classes and I needed it to graduate while I had 42 missing assignments,” West Ottawa graduate Alejandro Alamanza said. Most students in the graduating class believe that as long as they pass the year they will be fine; if they have some missing assignments or if they skip school for a little while it wouldn’t have a big impact on their graduation.
“I tried to stop those habits by remembering what I am working towards. The goal was to graduate and to graduate with a good reputation from school. This kept me motivated for the last couple of months of school. Which is how I got rid of not caring about school,” West Ottawa graduate Christian Mendoza said. “The best advice I could give someone is to remember that you want to set yourself a goal of where you want to be at the end of the school year.”
There are many ways to prevent you from either getting deeper into your senioritis case or just falling into the trap in general. Lots of seniors’ overall advice was to not procrastinate and to keep yourself engaged in activities for school. And surround yourself with people who will help you, support you, and motivate you to keep going and to stay on track. But always remember to not stress yourself out and have fun your senior year.
“Just live to your fullest and don’t go down the wrong track, go to all the football games, hoco, prom, snowball and what not,” Almanza said.
