Senioritis is “is a common affliction describing the lack of motivation felt by students who are reaching the end of their courses,” according to Google’s urban dictionary. Many seniors in high school experience this, and this school year with online learning, students have been more at risk. Senioritis has been an issue since the start of times, but with the lack of incentive that students have been experiencing due to not being able to enjoy their last high school year from their physical school, and instead have been stuck in front of a computer, senioritis levels skyrocketed since last school year.
“I believe I have senioritis because I barely find the motivation to do my work anymore or end up doing something really late,” senior Isabella Fernandez said.
Seniors Barbara Moreno and Martina Rojas also claim that they have been procrastinating a lot as well, have trouble finding motivation to do their school work and are not as focused on school as they used to be.
“The hardest part for me was thinking about my next steps in the future, like universities, scholarships, and the SAT. Also having to accept that senior year wasn’t gonna be like any other year; it didn't fulfill my expectations at all, the not seeing friends, not doing senior activities, not participating in extracurriculars in school, instead of actually visiting colleges now having to do virtual tours, not being able to participate in activities with my DECA class like state competitions in Orlando and California, it all was just really hard to wrap my head around,” Moreno said.
Senior year in itself brings a lot of anxiety and stress with college applications and seeing the future closer by, but the stress that is added on due to the pandemic and e-learning affected students.
“The pandemic didn’t allow us to live the senior experience in person, and that is what upsets me the most,” Fernandez said. “It has also had an impact on my mental health, not being able to have that same interaction with all of my teachers and friends, even with my family, now I feel more isolated or disconnected from the world because I learn better in a classroom environment and not simply just in my room.”
However, seniors have found a way to keep pushing through regardless of the circumstances.
“I find motivation by reminding myself that everything I put into now will be worth it at the end once I graduate; I set short term and long term goals for myself to accomplish in a certain amount of time, I do a schedule to keep track of all of my things to push myself to complete something at a certain time, and I treat myself to things I like.” Moreno said.
Each and every student has created a different method that works for them in maintaining their grades.
“I just keep telling myself that there are only a couple months left of high school and that I need to keep my grades up because I will have to send a final transcript to colleges,” Rojas said.
The transition from freshman to senior year is a huge one and there are definitely a lot of changes.
“I miss not having so many responsibilities such as applying to college or having a job,” Rojas said.
Having to shoulder various responsibilities while being on the cusp of young adulthood, this burden can often burn students out.
“This year we have had to worry about our future, and we have a different sort of pressure to figure out what our next steps are going to be after high school,” Moreno said.
However, there are also many good things about being the oldest ones in the school, “I like that we have more leniency and opportunities,” Fernandez said.
With age generally comes knowledge, and many seniors value the respect and trust that they are given by teachers and other adults in general, like Barbara Moreno.
“It reminds me that I have completed one of the most important stages of my life and it makes me excited about my future college experience,” Moreno said.
Even though senioritis is affecting seniors, they look back at all the memories and the friendships made and find a new reason to keep pushing forward these last few months.
Now, in the last 3 months of their high school career, seniors are anxiously awaiting their college acceptances and graduation. Senioritis kicked students hard this year but that didn’t stop them from completing this big accomplishment.