Being a Second Semester Senior This Year

Senioritis. Noun. A crippling disease that strikes high school seniors normally after college applications are turned in. Symptoms include: laziness, a lack of studying, repeated absences, many missing or late assignments, and a generally dismissive attitude. Otherwise known as the reason why I’m writing this article a week after it was due.

It’s no secret that when seniors come back from winter break, they encounter an unstoppable force named unmotivation. Since college applications were the main thing motivating us for the last three and a half years of school, once college apps were done we felt as if we had nothing left to give. Without college applications looming over our heads our lives feel almost purposeless. 

I’m not the only one feeling this new lack of incentive. Senior Jena Thorne agreed, saying, “I’ve always been intrinsically motivated to do well in school just for the sake of learning and giving my best to everything I do. Now, though, it’s a combination of relief from college apps, but also being at home, that makes me less inclined to be productive or proactive. It’s not that I don’t want to give my best, it’s just that without the pressure of grades, I’m more critical of what I’m being asked to do, and more respectful of my own time.”

In a normal year, Senioritis is to be expected, but being a second semester senior over distance learning is infinitely worse than being in school. Senior Saman Alikhani asserts that “school is like 25% social life and 75% learning. So, because it’s without the social part, online school is still so important but it’s like being at a perpetual ‘C’”. I’m sure we’re all aware distance learning sucks, but it’s especially hard on seniors: you can’t see your friends, there are no dances or parties, no senior traditions, and a missing sense of community because of the distance separating us. As Thorne mentioned, the novelty of being at home has quickly worn off, leaving seniors feeling unwilling to do any work. 

Obviously, we can’t be on campus until it is safe to do so, but until then there are only so many things we can do to stave off a lack of desire to do work. Historically, the only real tried and true cure for senioritis is graduation. However, we still have five more months of school, and most of us have already been feeling the effects of senioritis, which I believe will only get worse in time. That is a long time to be feeling purposeless and unmotivated. Even though seniors are itching to get out of their seats and into their new chapter of life, we still have much more homework to finish before we graduate. Best to buckle down and finish out the year, and hopefully make some final memories with the class of 2021 however we can.