All aboard the senioritis struggle bus

Graduation is just around the corner, and then something suddenly hits you. One of the most well known conditions that most students start to experience during senior year. That’s right, it’s good ol’ senioritis. Senioritis is the condition where seniors start to have a lack of motivation to do well in school, start to become lazy and just wish for senior year to be over and done with already.

Senior Hannah Fritch suggested potential causes of senioritis.

“Some people say that when your senior year comes around ‘it doesn’t really matter because you are just going to graduate anyway,’” Fritch said. “How I think of it, it’s not only your credits from your freshman, sophomore, and junior year; it’s from your freshman, sophomore, junior, and senior year. So they just forget the fact that senior year actually matters.”

Senior Dustin Hartnell explained that sometimes it’s not always student’s fault.

“I might have a slight case of it, but for the most part it’s my teachers,” Hartnell said. “A lot of the teachers are really great and I love them so much because they do their job just fine. However, there are some that just give a little bit of notes and things that students need to teach themselves.”

Alexa Pupo, a teacher at Imagine Prep, explains how she understands the struggle of senioritis because she has experienced a little of it herself when she was a senior in high school.

“I remember fourth quarter especially, which is super common,”  Pupo said.  “I don’t remember not caring anymore. I just remember being ready, like I still cared about my grades and my academics. I was like ‘okay, if graduation were to happen tomorrow, I’d be okay with it’.”

With years of being an academic counselor, Sabrina Poggi has seen the worst of the worst when it comes to senioritis.

“I think students need to understand that whatever work habits and skills they used until senior year need to be maintained,” Poggi said. “Things like getting your homework done on time, completing assignments, studying, etc; they need to understand senior year is not as easy as people make it seem to be. There’s this misconception that senior year is easy classes and not much is going on, but you really need to push yourself and challenge yourself. Universities will look to see if the student worked hard to finish strong. If you push yourself to take rigorous courses then you will be motivated to get assignments done and participate in class and keep your grades up.”

Poggi often sees seniors shifting their priorities to take on more responsibilities.

“Many students are hit with senioritis because school is not priority. I see students who take on jobs, and struggle with time management. Senioritis has to do with priorities. At the end of the day, getting a high school diploma should be the ultimate goal.”

Senior Theodore “TJ” Jones feels like he has a bad case of senioritis.

“I’ve had senioritis since freshman year,” Jones said. “It’s the last year, I’m already set to graduate, and I’m anxious until college. I try to stay focused on my work.”

Jones wants students to avoid senioritis as much as possible.

“Do your work, stay focused, it does matter,” Jones said. “Just because it’s your senior year doesn’t mean you still can’t fail.”