Senioritis is hitting the seniors hard at Oakmont Regional High School. Almost every senior ends up feeling the wrath of senioritis at some point during their last year in high school.
Symptoms of senioritis can come in all different forms. Some students have trouble waking up every morning and getting to school on time. For others, it’s procrastinating and getting work in on due dates or simply just not putting in any effort.
For many students, they have already received acceptance letters or even committed to a college. Since they feel ready to start a new chapter of their life, they feel like they don’t need to keep up with their grades as long as they pass their classes.
The Merriam-Webster dictionary recognizes Senioritis as “an ebbing of motivation and effort by school seniors as evidenced by tardiness, absences, and lower grades. ”Whether you are a straight-A student or don’t have the best grades, almost everyone in their senior year falls to the effects of senioritis in one way or another.
For some, the effects of senioritis start at the beginning of the year and for others, it progresses over time. According to Molly Horgan, a senior at Oakmont, “Senioritis is 100% real and it hit me in the first semester of senior year.”
For Nahuel Suarez, a senior at Oakmont, “It hit me when I stopped playing sports.” Suarez, a fall and spring athlete, brings up an interesting point.
For some students, senioritis has no effect. Sam Sepulvada, aka Seppy, a senior at Oakmont, gave an unexpected response, “It doesn’t affect me at all.” Like Seppy, some students don’t seem to feel the weight of senioritis, continuing to work hard during the school day. Seppy might have a reason for his continued effort saying, “I just don’t do anything after school.” He explained that his free time after school lets him stay on top of his schoolwork.
Unlike Seppy, some seniors feel that not having activities after school worsens senioritis.
“I felt senioritis when I stopped playing a sport. . . I just end up not feeling like doing work,” said Jake O’Day, a two-sport senior athlete at Oakmont.
If you have fallen victim to senioritis it can cause your work ethic to decrease. But there are still ways to try and prevent grade-dropping. According to an article by The National Association for College Admission Counseling, “Plan ahead, Map out what you have to do. To complete that English paper, when should you begin working on it? If the big game is the night before the due date, plan to finish the paper a few days ahead of time.” By planning you can stay on top of your work and get assignments done on time while also keeping up with sports and social life.
Mrs. Paula Stefanakos, an English teacher at Oakmont spoke on this subject, “Students should maintain hard goals and remember that second semesters grades factor in money for merit scholarships.”
Suarez gave an expected response for how he is staying on top of his work, “My motivation is to make it out of the mud.”
Grace Ricard, a senior at Oakmont, says that her strategy to prevent dropping grades is, “to try her best to keep up with the work.” Although this may be hard for some students, it is possible to prevent the negative effects of senioritis.
