As a soon to be graduate of Niles West’s Class of 2024, I can safely say that senioritis has definitely taken hold of me. During these past couple of weeks especially, I have found it difficult to sometimes even open my laptop and type in my password. Am I being lazy? According to my mother and some of my teachers, absolutely. But, I’m going to argue that at this point in the year, I just can’t really help it.

Senioritis can really prove to be a problem for many individuals, especially if it hits them as soon as they come back to school from winter break. For example, one of my friends has absolutely no motivation to do any of her work, supporting her actions with the statement, “I’ve already gotten into and committed to a college, I should be free now.” However, another one of my friends almost always responds with a sarcastic comment about how colleges have the ability to rescind their offers if your grades plummet a little too far. Regardless of where you fall on the “senioritis spectrum,” my guess is that if you’re a senior, you’ve definitely felt unmotivated to do your school work to some extent during this final stretch of the year.

Although senioritis is claimed by many teachers, counselors and adults in general to be a slippery slope, I think it can be manageable and in my case, I think it has been. Aside from the multiple late assignments I’ve turned in (but those assignments were only late because I knew points wouldn’t have been taken off from them, otherwise, every single assignment of mine has been submitted on time.) Even though I’ve definitely felt “too tired,” to do my homework on some weeknights, I’ve managed to push through and get (almost) all of my assignments done (sorry Ms. Gross.)

Even though the term has been deemed to be “senioritis,” and is typically only used in reference to the graduating class, hence the “senior,” in the actual word, I’d argue that senioritis is less of a senior issue and more of an “it’s the end of the school year and I’m feeling burnt out,” issue. All throughout high school, regardless of what grade I was in, I was always told by multiple teachers to “finish off the year strong,” and “to not let the laziness get the best of me.” Juniors, sophomores and even freshmen are probably dealing with the same lack of motivation and laziness when it comes to their studies solely because the end of the school year is near and so is summer. 

My word of advice for seniors and all others who may be feeling the effects of senioritis is to remember that you can only win the race if you end up crossing the finish line.