Don’t Let Senior-itis Get the Best of You

I can tell: senioritis is in the air. That’s not to say that it hasn’t been in the air for seniors (or for other students too, sometimes) for oh, about the last school year. You know senioritis? That thing that seniors get when they know the end of the school year, and their whole high school career, is sooo close, and they just don’t want to keep trekking? I think it gets even the best students.

I have three brothers who are all younger than me. One’s all graduated and in the Air Force; the next one is 10 days away from graduating and definitely has senioritis, and the third brother, he’s a junior, and well, I think he may have senioritis, too. I’ll tell you what I tell them: Don’t stop! Keep going!! It’s so worth it! Don’t give in to senioritis – you can beat it!

Alright so that was the pep talk…here’s why: As a senior, you may think it’s over and colleges don’t know your last quarter grades anyways – which sometimes they do, sometimes they don’t…but regardless, it’s important to always stay disciplined and on top of your work. In three months, you’ll be in college or on your own. You won’t have another first day of school where your teachers will check in and make sure you have your assignments straight. You’ll be in a situation where you’re the only one who checks in on yourself. If you think it’s hard now to stay focused, think about being in college with no rules, no curfew, no teachers, no parents – it’s all on you. And I know I’ve talked about this before, how it’s important to develop good habits and be disciplined, but I don’t think I can stress it too much.

I know when I got to college, at first I thought it was a breeze. But then the reading started piling up, and then mid-term tests started and I realized that I wasn’t very good at prioritizing and doing the work I needed to do to be successful in my classes. Without structure imposed by a school day, by teachers, parents or whatever else, it’s hard to set your own boundaries and priorities. Which is why right now is great exercise in that discipline that makes good students and successful people. So there’s your challenge: don’t slack off during your last weeks of school – make them count!

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