Ohhh Senioritis!

Everyone at Escuela Internacional Sampedrana is aware of the rapidly spreading plague known as “senioritis.” Teachers and directors fear it and are now running out of ideas on how to combat this epidemic. For those of you who are not familiar with it, senioritis is referred to the overall feeling of doing nothing at all. Early symptoms of the disease include laziness, lack of concentration and difficulty making decisions. Another effect of senioritis is a more relaxed attitude towards class attendance. It is not unusual for graduating seniors to enroll in easy courses, electives with minimal requirements and little effect on a student's overall grade point average. Others with senioritis may decide that a school's attendance policy no longer applies to a student with only weeks to go before graduation. Some colleges, however, have exercised the right to withdraw admission offers to students who fail to demonstrate educational discipline during their final semester as seniors.
By this time of the year, the average, healthy high school senior may have completely succumbed. Senioritis attacks high-achieving, average and struggling students alike. By this time in the school year, most seniors have turned in their applications for college and received their acceptance letters. Many of them reasonably feel entitled to a little break. The rest of the seniors who aren't headed for higher learning may not have figured out what they want to do after graduation, but they are pretty sure that it won't require anything they could possible learn in school. School has become less of a responsibility and has turned into more of a time killer. Seniors now attend school merely to socialize with friends and fool around, especially now that the final fifty day countdown has arrived.
Some of us have the wrong notion that we already have our graduation diploma with us, but sad as it is, a few are in danger of not graduating if they keep on with the slacking off. However, for the rest of us, senioritis has taken over our lives, to the extent that we don’t take anything seriously, except for weekends obviously. Ohh, the weekends!!! I wonder how our grades would turn out to be if we studied as much as we partied. That would make an interesting experiment to perform, but all of us know it just won’t happen. I believe teachers should stop worrying about seniors and just let them be. After all, having endured twelve years at this school calls for a celebration. Nonetheless, not every senior experiences senioritis in its most obvious form, but many do feel bittersweet towards their final days as students. For some, the thought of not seeing their friends on a regular basis causes feelings of depression or nostalgia. Others see the final days of their senior years as an opportunity to settle accounts before they leave their hometowns for distant campuses or careers. Senioritis can trigger some unexpected emotions, as students prepare to close one chapter in their lives and open a new one. In the meantime, or for last fifty days I might say, let the eternal senior motto live: “Senioritis, a day wasted is a day well spent.”

-By M. Papadakys