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May 10th is the last day of school for the graduating class of 2024 for Frederick High School students. At the time of writing this article, that is a total of 149 days away in total. Excluding weekends and seasonal breaks, that’s roughly 80 days. Every tick of the clock brings our seniors another step closer to graduation. It’s one of the most important events of a graduate’s academic career and that bright Monday morning is much closer than it seems. After 4 years in high school, students have learned quite a lot. Many have spent late nights studying, jumping through hurdles, and overcoming challenges with every grade. All that’s left to do now is to make it through the next semester. To walk across the stage and receive their diploma after so much work, it’ll be magical! So why are Seniors beginning to flunk?
It’s no coincidence. As we head into the spring semester of the school year, Seniors will face one of their largest struggles so far: Senioritis. To some, this term may seem like gibberish, but it’s a real word that even the College Board has recognized. In the simplest terms, Senioritis is a phenomenon where high school or college senior students begin to lose motivation in their grades, attendance and effort in school activities. This usually begins to happen at the turnaround between autumn and spring semester when classes begin to switch and the seasons start to change. There’s many reasons why Senioritis kicks off for our students and once the spiral has begun, it can be incredibly difficult to stop.
Stress
Senior year is an incredibly stressful time for a young academic student. It’s full of final exams, make-or-break courses and, most stressful of all, college decisions. Many students are learning how to drive, getting their first jobs and broadening themselves as individuals as they get ready to go out in the world on their own. There’s no doubt that the senior year of education can be one of the most stressful experiences for people. As such, some students will lose hope in trying to stay caught up in everything. For a student, once you start falling behind in a class, doing poorly on a test grade, forgetting to do homework, ect, it feels nearly impossible to try and get back to where they were before. The stress can be enough to make a student no longer have the will to try. Slowly, students will begin to dwindle off of their schoolwork until the point of no return if it means it will get rid of the stressful, tiring emotions that comes with the final months of the school year.
Burnout
Burnout can be another major factor that causes Senioritis. Many students have been in school for nearly 10-11 years with small, 2 month breaks in the middle. It can be incredibly tiring to run through the process of the school year over and over again. Being placed in the same environment for such a long time without much change in how they’re being taught can impact a person. Overtime, it can cause people to lose their passions and interest in learning. By senior year, things that were once fascinating as a freshman no longer hold the same wonder as they once did. Teachers have all been met, topics have all been brushed upon, and friendships have all been formed. For many students in their senior year, all credits have been met within their first semester of the school year. To be able to see the finish line can sometimes be enough to make people want to walk the last few paces of the marathon. This concept leads to the next point in why Senioritis impacts so many students, apathy.
Apathy
The credits have all been gained, the core classes have all been taken and, by this point, many colleges are just reaching out to grab you. With the pathway towards college already laid out in their sights, what’s the point? Students, specifically high school students, become apathetic to the process with time. Waking up early, having no time for personal activity, and constantly being under the stress to perform well in their classes can create a sense of numbness for Seniors. If the student has already been accepted into a college, the urge to give up becomes even stronger. In the eyes of many Seniors, there’s no reason to keep trying if what they’ve already done has gotten them into a higher education system, so they stop.
Though these are all reasonable motivators as to why students fall victim to Senioritis, they’re also incredibly harmful for the student and their academic life. Once the spiral has started, students may begin to feel stuck in a hole that they have no choice but to keep digging down in. It may feel that way, but it’s not true. For as long as there’s time to turn in assignments, there’s time to turn it around. It can be very difficult to ask for help, especially once you feel like you’ve fallen too deep. If you’re unable to speak directly to your teacher or professors, send them an email asking for help. Work with your peers and set up times throughout the week to study or work on schoolwork. Keep a constant, yet manageable, workflow to keep your brain active and engaged as the final months pass by. Procrastination will try to worm its way into your life. It’s up to you, with the help of your educators and fellow peers, to push against it. The end is almost near, class of 2024. Keep running strong, you can make it!\
Senioritis – Counselors | College board. (n.d.). https://counselors.collegeboard.org/college-application/senioritis
