What Not to Do as a Second Semester Senior | Cole Colleran

It’s that time of year: the birds are chirping, it’s beginning to warm up, and seniors are checking out. For the past three years, I’ve always wondered why most second semester seniors lose focus, get sent to Saturday school, only wear pajamas, and generally don’t care about school. It just didn’t make sense. Everyone was still taking classes and the grades still counted for transcripts. That being the case, why were seniors not carrying as much as they used to about school? Now, as a second semester senior myself, I understand how difficult it can be to avoid losing complete focus in class. 

When you are a freshman, sophomore, and junior, you know that you have at least one more year of high school and therefore need to continue to work hard and keep your grades to the best possible standard. However, as a senior, it can be a completely different story: for those attending college, they’ve sent their college applications and know that they are almost done with high school. There’s no incentive anymore. Consequently, seniors tend to attend fewer days of school than they had in previous years, receive lower grades, and fall asleep in class at ever-higher rates.  

That being said, there are many seniors who do not give up on their old mindset, staying determined to finish their spring semester on an academic high note. Personally, I believe this is how all seniors should finish their high school career: working hard. If a student is attending college in the coming fall, it most likely will be harder than the classes  they have taken thus far. Therefore, if they stray from a hard working mindset in the spring, it will be much harder to be prepared for what’s coming when they attend that first college class.

Thus, I believe seniors should stay academically engaged. They should still have fun, going out with friends, going to sporting events and parties, sleeping in every now and then. However, they shouldn’t be skipping class everyday, not doing homework, and partying too hard. This could lead to bad habits moving forward and be detrimental to showing their full potential at college and later in life.

How does a senior not get senioritis? It may seem inevitable to some, but with belief and key pointers, it can be done. The main thing that a senior needs to do is show up. If the senior is missing three or more days of school a week, then there’s no way they will be able to keep their grades up. The second is to stay focused on the task at hand. In many classes the teacher can lecture for a while and it’s easy to lose focus. Nonetheless, if you remember it’s for your grade and your future, you will probably enjoy the class more and possibly have fun. Finally, don’t change the mindset that has been used for the past seven semesters. If you start to think about college and that you are so close to being done, it can be easy to check out and become less engaged. To avoid this, you should attempt to treat this spring semester just like any other. 

To many seniors this may seem impossible, or they just don’t care. However, for those looking to avoid senioritis, hopefully this will be beneficial to staying focused for the remainder of senior year.