As the school year progresses for FHS seniors, so does the increasing issue of “senioritis” and its effects. Senioritis is when a senior in high school has less and less willpower or willingness to do work and show up to school on time. This usually occurs when the school year is close to its end, or when getting back from a school sanctioned break of some sort.

There is no official set time or place in which a senior may feel senioritis as it’s different for each individual person. English teacher Natalie Yarber states that around the halfway mark of the year is when most students start to feel affected by it.

“I feel like you start to see it even as early as the beginning of second semester, but definitely the spring semester break mark,” Yarber said.

As a senior student myself, I have also struggled to motivate myself to get work done on time and show up for the classes I find boring. (I even procrastinated on writing this same story you’re reading right now!)

A good thing to note about senioritis is that it does not directly affect the level of work that is being turned in, but instead when it is turned in. So students are still trying somewhat, just not at the same speed and attention that it was at before.

“You know, honestly, I don’t think it has so much to do with the quality of work as it does the timeline,” Yarber said.

Not only is senioritis caused by the end of school approaching, but also by other things coming up and clouding a student’s perception of what is most important in that moment. Yarber puts it clearly as a time when you don’t want to be feeling left out and stuck doing school work.

“It’s when all the fun stuff is happening and you’re trying to figure out plans for next year and prom and graduation parties and stuff like that,” Yarber said.

Senioritis is just a more amplified version of what everyone else feels when it comes to wanting to finish off the year already. Many people would disagree with that statement saying that senioritis can happen even before their senior year. 

There have always been seniors slacking, some have always been unmotivated but now use the excuse of senioritis as a pass or way to gain sympathy, according to senior Jessica George. 

“That’s not senioritis,” George said. “You’re just lazy.”

For some students, the goal is just to get into their dream college or college of choice, so once they’re accepted, the drive to excel wears off. Because so much of your school life can be spent worrying about your graduation requirements and working towards building your resume for the colleges you plan to apply to, once you send everything in, it’s hard to not relax a little bit or slow down on the last remaining things you need to complete.

“Once you apply for college it starts to feel like it’s over,” George said. “They have your GPA and they have your transcripts and everything so once you’re in, you’re in.” 

One of the largest reasons for senioritis comes from the easy but constant busy work that some classes provide that burns seniors out when they are already feeling lazy, according to senior Alec Girbach.

“It’s so easy that you don’t put a lot of attention into the work,” Girbach said.

And giving less consistent harder work isn’t necessarily the answer either, since most seniors put the least amount of quality work required to receive a good score on the assignment.

So what is the answer? How do you avoid senioritis? Girbach recommends staying off your phone and setting personal goals that are essential to passing and making it to graduation.

“The goal of not having a single missing assignment is at least keeping me trying to do the work,” Girbach said. 

With senioritis on the rise, it’s hard to want to push until graduation but you should do what you can and get it over with. Don’t just do it for you, set a good example for those around you who also are feeling senioritis, some earlier than others.

“It affects all grades,” Girbach said. “It’s just the worst for seniors.”