Senior year….the final stretch for over 450 students at John Adams High School before entering the big scary real world. Most people think of senior year as the best, easiest and most fun year of high school. Painting parking spots, senior sunrise, senior skip day and graduation day are just a few of the major events the students get to experience. While senior year does hold a multitude of memory making opportunities, there is a completely different side to it for a large majority of the students.
Senioritis is a very real and very heavy thing that millions of seniors across the country go through. You may think that senioritis isn’t the only ‘affliction’ that students encounter, having heard of the freshman slump, sophomore slump and junior jitters. While you’d be right in thinking this, senioritis is the one ‘affliction’ that can cause a very fine line between graduating or not. Experiencing the freshman and sophomore slump or junior jitters is still real, no doubt, however students still have time to make up for the classes they may have fallen behind in or failed. During senior year, there is very slim room for error without dramatically affecting your GPA.
Senioritis is seen in many ways through students, from frequent tardiness and absence to forgetting to turn in assignments. The extreme loss of motivation makes it very difficult for seniors to stay on top of their schoolwork and maintain busy schedules. In my personal experience, I struggle to get to school on time, especially if I know that I have nothing to work on in my first hour class. Additionally, my mental health has taken a toll this year, with the constant thought of graduating and leaving my friends and teachers behind in less than six months. Though I’m very excited for college and my future, this transition period is a major one and it is hard to stay motivated in my classes. I’ve shared with my friends that everything seems very optional right now, especially with college applications submitted and being in the second semester, the very last one of my high school career.
Nya Brown, a fellow senior, has stated that senioritis is extremely apparent in her life. She says, “Senioritis has really had an effect on my mental health, making me very tired and unmotivated.” This is just one of the hundreds of seniors at Adams that is going through this very difficult time and transition. To get a better understanding of the seniors’ experience, I conducted a poll asking how much senioritis is affecting them. The choices were, “YES, SEND HELP!,” “Yes, but you’re pushing through,” “A little,” and “Nope! Thriving in your last semester.” In the end, 48% of seniors said, “YES, SEND HELP!” and 43% responded with “Yes, but you’re pushing through.” Additionally, only 9% of students said “A little bit” and “Nope! Thriving in your last semester” was left with 0%. Senioritis comes in different amounts for everyone, some experience having no motivation for a short time, while others struggle to get themselves to school and class on time because the biggest thought in their head is, “What’s the point, I’m basically done.”
To all John Adams High School seniors, we will get through this period. Yes, it will definitely be hard to transition from this very set routine to being on our own in college, but it will also be so worth it. We have our entire future ahead of us, don’t stop now!
