College acceptances come out! But then a pattern starts: stacks of papers are piling up, the late homework assignments are getting worse, staying up all night is a common habit and a lack of motivation takes over. What is this? It might be a case of Senioritis. 

   “I would say Senioritis is a lack of academic motivation as students near graduation. I think when graduation is only months away, it doesn’t seem like a lot of time, and that plus a lot of stress decreases the will to keep putting effort into schoolwork,” Kayla Longfield (12) said.

   Senioritis is a widespread and frequently used word, and while there is no found origin for it, students have been self-proclaiming this concept as the root of their academic issues for several years.

   “I’m currently struggling with Senioritis, heading into the last semester of my high school career, and I’m having difficulty finding the motivation to wake up every morning and head to school.  It started mildly at the beginning of senior year, but now that graduation is months away it’s become more severe,” Sophia Hoogeveen (12) said.

  There are varieties of causes that lead to Senioritis; they can range from college acceptances to lack of motivation and much more.

   “I was so used to having a break from school, and then we stayed the first week back as e-learning. That led to me not having any motivation to do my homework, and it also led to me procrastinating a lot on my work since I just didn’t want to do it,” Jelena Repak (12) said.

   While this is a common and widespread issue among seniors, not everyone has it.  

   “I don’t really have Senioritis. I have a big workload between several AP classes and extracurricular and that kind of forces me to stay focused or face consequences,” Longfield said.

   Lack of motivation and procrastination can become habits that are hard to break, but for Ashleigh Griffin (12), she was able to stay motivated.

   “I keep myself motivated. I don’t like failing, so I do everything I can to not fail. I also know where I want to be in life ten years down the road. The more work I put in now, the more I’ll benefit from it in the future. It’ll bring stress levels down in college when I’m taking the same level courses,” Griffin said. 

   The consequences of Senioritis vary, but in the end they are almost always negative. There are several things that younger students can do to prevent this dread.

   “To younger students, I would say to stay on top of your assignments and try to finish as much homework in school as possible while also doing your best work. I would also say to take the more difficult classes during your freshman, sophomore and junior year, if possible, and save those easier classes for your senior year, so that way, keeping up with classes is less challenging,” Abigail Ruzas (12) said.