Senioritis and stress levels among seniors are on the rise as graduation deadlines get closer. This brings up many questions: What am I going to do after high school? What do I want to do with my life? What’s next? As a senior, I know that we’re making decisions that will impact the rest of our lives, and it’s a new and frightening experience.
In a way, it’s also empowering to be in control of something so important in our lives. In the past, we have often felt control slipping from our grasp, but now we have the chance to pave our own way through life. However, the most important times of our lives can also be the most stress-inducing times. On top of life-changing decisions, we’re juggling classes, sports/extracurriculars, and even jobs. Too much pressure on high school seniors can lead to a decline in mental health, a drop in grades, or lackluster attendance.
The term “senioritis” was created to describe seniors who lack the motivation to keep up with their academic performance towards the end of their highschool years. While there are various causes for senioritis to occur, I think that a lot of it stems from the stress that we, as seniors, have to push through as we finish one last year of classwork, homework, and deadlines. The severity of senioritis can differ, and it doesn’t always mean a decline in grades. Symptoms of senioritis can range anywhere from lack of motivation to dropped attendance.
One senior, Paige Burnett, stated “I feel like I have senioritis pretty bad… my grades are still fine, but I have no motivation to be here. I’m ready to move on to the next stage of my life and start doing something different.” For 4 years, we sit in our classes and it begins to feel repetitive. Being confined to one setting for years on end is suffocating and one senior student, who’s attendance has dropped this year, said that her “classes feel so redundant because I’ve been in Harrison so long that I feel fine missing class for a few days.” The idea of college feels freeing because it’s a new environment and you haven’t been confined to it for so long. It feels like a new start once the application process is over.
College applications alone cause a lot of stress and anxiety. Once you fill out the application and submit it, the dreaded wait begins. It creates anxiety and makes the days feel long, while you wait for an email or a letter in the mail deciding your fate. Personally, after I submitted a few of my applications, I felt myself constantly refreshing on the student portal website waiting for the status to change. I was stressing out over the applications while also getting used to my new classes in a new school year. It created a lot of stress in the moment, until some weight lifted off of my shoulders when 3 acceptance letters came rolling in. It was a huge relief to see the word “congratulations” so quickly, but the anxiety still lingers… What is my future going to look like?
