With H1N1 going around, the country is in a panic. Hand sanitizer sales are on the rise, the number of absent students per day is soaring, and there just doesn’t seem to be enough vaccinations around. Who wants to be bed ridden for a week, unable to eat, with a fever over 100 degrees? Obviously, not me. However, there’s something else floating in the air that seems to have a stronger effect of me, that doesn’t involve a swab being shoved up my nose. I have been affected, tested, and proven positive for a horrible case of Senioritis.
Senioritis is spreading quickly. If you are a senior in high school typically aged between 16 and 18, your chances of becoming contaminated are increasingly high.
So how do you know if you have been infected with Senioritis? There are three main symptoms.
1.
You do not turn in homework assignments. (Averaging a turn in of about 1 in every 6)
2.
You lack the drive to study for any quizzes/tests.
3.
You’re assignments notebook has yet to be opened…this year.
If you can identify yourself with 2 out of these 3, you most likely are or on the verge of having Senioritis. After three longs years of high school, and an exceptionally difficult junior year, the fourth and final year’s effort level is anything but high. College is on the horizon, the freshmen are way too young, and class preparations are the same old same old. All you want to do is get out, and move on, hence, the Senioritis.
As a victim of Senioritis, I believe it’s safe to say that its symptoms start out slow, but gradually get worse and worse. With college applications turned it, and the anticipation of the admissions letters in the air, school work is anything but a priority. Your dreams of living on your own, meeting new people, and starting out with a blank slate are too much to handle, and the reality of a whole year left of high school is the perfect buzz kill. So why think about it? Exactly…you don’t. The perfect gateway for Senioritis.
It is the easy way out. Whether you choose to believe it or not, it’s the ultimate excuse to slack off for a year. At the end of junior year I was ecstatic to become a senior. Sure, we would be the oldest kids on campus and receive many perks because of it, but ultimately the idea of being able to “just get by” for a whole year made me want to dance.
I was quickly proven wrong. With the end of the semester a mere 6 weeks away, it’s crunch time for grades. I can honestly admit that my grades are anything but noteworthy. They are completely average, and go hand in hand with the amount of effort that was put in to achieve them. But who cares right? My applications are in, the colleges know my previous year’s grades, and I’m good to go. Wrong. Just recently I received my first admissions letter back. To my dismay, I was wait listed. As many can relate, I’m sure, the first thing the school asks for is an updated SEMESTER GRADES. I was dumb struck…If my ability to get into the college of my choice rested solely on my senior grades, I was going to live in my parents’ house…indefinitely.
Senioritis’ worst symptom had finally surfaced.