Written By: Sakura Snyder, Staff Writer
UNDENIABLE: Senioritis plagues many as the final stretch comes near.
It isn’t an understatement to say that the final year of high school can be an exhausting experience. Compressed into a small window of time, seniors must undergo this transitionary threshold between childhood and adulthood where they must decide on what steps to take post-graduation. Furthermore, graduation isn’t an automatic given either—academic and social pressure can lead to a grave case of inevitable burnout, which often results in slipping grades and motivation. This unfortunate yet oftentimes commonly found right of passage within seniors is most known to be called senioritis.
Senioritis can manifest in a multitude of different ways. First and foremost, college applications. The entire ordeal of applying to college is infamous for being incredibly harmful to the senior soul. Having to fill out lengthy forms, write flawless essays, and repeat until utter satisfaction is a grueling process that is especially difficult to endure in the final year of high school. Furthermore, facing the results of the applications themselves comes with an entirely, more deeply rooted form of stress that is vastly different from prior parts of the process. Seniors must be nerve-racking and wait for acceptances and rejections to completely roll in, and only then can many of them come to a full decision about where to go. Soul-crushing disappointment about not getting into a dream school or vice versa can prove to be an emotional roller coaster that is simply too much for senior year. This contributes to the commonly found case of senioritis.
Additionally, academic burnout. Hannah Johnson (12) states that she is “struggling to keep up with [her] classes,” which is not at all a rare occurrence for seniors already battling with emotional exhaustion from the craziness of their final year. Finding the necessary motivation to finish off on a strong note can prove to be difficult for many, especially because a plethora of individuals are (understandably) hasty to graduate and enter the next chapter of their lives.
Despite the seemingly inevitable nature of senioritis, it is important to remember that the future holds many great opportunities. In the end, no matter how small or big, the step forward is what matters!