Senioritis: The Nationwide Epidemic

Senior year of high school, and teachers really have the nerve to give us work? Don’t they know we have five months until graduation? So inconsiderate.The last thing I want to do is finish writing this short story for English; I really just do not have it in me.

All jokes aside, senioritis is real.

I’m sure many people have heard this term before, considering it comes out of my mouth almost every day. For any of you all wondering exactly what senioritis is, it’s a supposed affliction of students in their final year of high school or college, characterized by a decline in motivation or performance.

Senior, Emily Houska lounges around in the lobby. Photo By: Mallory Lebo
Senior Emily Houska lounges around in the lobby. Photo By: Mallory Lebo

Senior Emily Houska has personal experience with this ‘deadly’ disease.

“You know have senioritis when you have to keep finding new TV shows to watch, you fall asleep, you don’t do any work, it’s really bad. I’ll finish a TV a series instead of doing work sometimes. Personally, I don’t think my senioritis will end until we graduate to be honest,” said Houska.

Senior, Iffy Akunna take a quick power nap. Photo By: Mallory Lebo
Senior Iffy Akunna take a quick power nap.
Photo By: Mallory Lebo

Iffy Akunna added in his thoughts and feelings about the senioritis epidemic.

“I personally know when I have senioritis if I’m not paying attention in class more than usual, if just don’t feel inclined to do certain assignments, if a teacher says something is really important and I just don’t care, that’s when I know I have it. Everything shuts off, and you don’t really care about this place anymore. Senioritis hit me especially before Christmas break.. I had it because Mr. Lawrence was telling us to read something over break, and it wasn’t even due to the fact that it was Christmas break, but the fact that I got acceptance letters back from colleges, and at that point it’s like ‘well, I know I’m going to college somewhere, so what’s the point?’ That was the worst I ever had it this year. However, what gets me to overcome senioritis is looking at my freshman year transcripts…my grades were terrible then, and that just pushes me to keep working harder,” said Akunna.

With graduation day coming up closer and closer by the minute, the anticipation is building up. When all you see is yourself receiving that diploma and shaking Dr. Molin’s hand, nothing else seems to be more important. We find ourselves so fixated on graduation that we sometimes forget that we still need to perform as students in order to make sure we still graduate.

The first step to overcoming the problem is realizing you have a problem. The faster you realize you have senioritis, the faster you can overcome it.  Yes, senior year is supposed to be fun and one last hoorah, but if you slack off and neglect the work needed, senior year may become a little more stressful- or longer- than needed.