As seniors enter their last year of high school, many of them undergo senioritis, which is when they experience a lack of motivation towards their education. After years of academic work, turning in college applications and the pressure to meet all the requirements to graduate, some seniors find themselves mentally drained.
“I’ve heard from seniors last year how senioritis would hit them and they would not go to school at all for like half of the semester,” said senior Natalie Flores.
Flores, acknowledges that while she feels tired and sometimes considers not going to school, she forces herself to comply with her responsibilities. Throughout the school year, her motivation to complete schoolwork has declined, leading her to submit assignments late without putting in any effort and not paying attention in class.
“One of my biggest facts is that I’ve realized that my teachers don’t really know what I’m turning in so I just started turning in whatever like a few sentences on a paragraph assignment,” said Flores.
As finals come, students tend to experience senioritis the most during busy times of the year when they have more work assigned. Senior Jacob Mejicanos has been affected by senioritis the most at the end of the semester, mainly because of finals testing. Despite finals affecting his grades as a result of the constant stress and lack of work being completed causing a decline in his grades, senioritis has increased his motivation to boost his GPA and learn what he is being taught in class to help in the future while pursuing Aircraft Mechanics.
“I’m going to use calculus so I actually want to learn, tackle somewhat and go to college so I’m not super behind,” said Mejicanos.
Although senioritis has boosted Mejicanos’ motivation to learn, one of the main factors contributing to this problem is frequently being tardy to class and having missing constant assignments. After feeling a sense of relief when completing those missing assignments, it becomes a cycle and goes back to the mindset of not doing work again. Despite this common feeling for Mejicanos, knowing that he will graduate soon keeps him from repeating that cycle again.
“Just knowing it’s my last year, and that like when I’m done I’m done I’m just going to move onto the next stage after that,” said Mejicanos.
In the end, senioritis serves as a mix of excitement, and challenges high school seniors have to balance their motivation with the importance of staying focus in school.
