Severe Cases of Senioritis Beginning to Spread at SHS

As the winter months slowly pass, anticipation toward graduation increases, causing some members of the Class of 2022 to catch a severe case of senioritis. Forget COVID, senioritis is a very contagious “illness” that rapidly spreads across upperclassmen year after year. Many seniors have already applied to their top colleges, and as graduation approaches, it is evident through attendance and effort that some seniors are starting to slack. 

SHS senior Jillian Connor says she finds herself not participating as much in her classes. Connor tends to plug in her headphones and go on many walks to clear her head. She says some days she doesn’t even bring her backpack to school. Although Connor is not pleased to come to school every day, she said she has “been coming in on time because of sports” and has been “feeling less stressed,” as she has already submitted many college applications. Connor does not think it is too early to have this “don’t care” mentality, as she can see many of her peers feeling burnt out from the combination of an intense school workload and the implications of  COVID. 

AP Psychology teacher Andrew Roberts says he has not seen senioritis impacting student participation in his classes; however, he is beginning to see some effort decrease in areas like homework and studying. In the past, he has seen the most significant decline in effort and attendance during the third and fourth quarters of the academic year. Roberts also acknowledged that holidays are an additional variable that can distract people. Noting the holidays can be tricky as they bring about a lot of emotions, Andrews indicated many students get so excited about the holiday season that they cannot focus on school, while others have personal or family stressors that make the holidays difficult and prevent them from working or coming to school. Roberts commented that he does “not take it personally” when multiple seniors are out of his classes, as this happens “year after year,” and the curriculum is designed to counteract and work around senioritis. Due to his knowledge of psychology, Roberts explained that senioritis is not that “unique.” He elaborated that there is a significant emphasis on seniors because it is their last year of high school, but slacking off and not putting forth your top-tier effort is extremely common in seniors and human nature amongst people of all ages. 

SHS senior Joe Secaur expressed his feelings about catching a case of senioritis. Recently, he is “clocked out” in many of his classes and has found himself still keeping up on his homework, but not if the teacher does not make an effort to grade the assignment. Secaur usually arrives on time for school. He explains that he has missed one health class and a few blocks when a teacher was not in the building, but overall, he has a pretty good attendance record for being a senior. Secaur believes it is not too early for this “don’t care” mentality. He emphasized that most seniors have submitted their college applications, and so as long as he and his peers keep their grades at about 80%, it should be smooth sailing from here. 

Of course, in the coming months, multiple members of the senior class are expected to catch more severe senioritis–especially as those college acceptance letters start to arrive in earnest.