As the final quarter of the school year begins, several things loom in the future. For many students, their focus lies in the anxiety associated with an assortment of final tests and projects they must complete or getting excited for summer break. For seniors, something much bigger lies in these next few months: graduation.
Having such an important event kept in the distance by a continuous flow of schoolwork and studying can make the final quarter of school feel exhausting, pointless or even downright boring. This growing disdain for the everyday educational cycle is colloquially known as “senioritis.”
Senior Aidan Weiss started to feel senioritis near the end of the first semester. Weiss felt it made him less focused on his work during the school year.
“[Senioritis] has just made me kind of feel more apathetic about school,” Weiss said. “It doesn’t really matter anymore since I’m going to college soon.”
Senior Kyndall Funderburk noticed her senioritis kick in during the first semester and similarly believes it has affected her motivation to do schoolwork.
“I feel like [senioritis] is messing me and a lot of other people up,” Funderburk said. “What’s the point now? Why am I grinding when I’m going to be gone in two months?”
Along with her academic motivation, Funderburk’s activeness in extracurriculars has also faltered to a lesser extent.
“I feel like my ‘stick-to-it’ [mentality] has faded a little bit,” Funderburk said. “I still try to be committed.”
Weiss does not think senioritis has an easy fix, mainly because he believes the structure of American high school curriculums are a big reason for senioritis’ existence.
“In France, they don’t have senioritis because their senior year is their hardest year, whereas it’s junior year here,” Weiss said. “We take the SAT, the main test, in our junior year, but [French high schools] have their hardest test at the end of their senior year.”
Whenever Funderburk needs to combat her senioritis, she tries to think of her assignments in a different light.
“I try to just woman-up,” Funderburk said. “I try to minimize [laziness]. It’s not even that serious, just get it done.”
With what waits ahead, some may find it natural to diagnose themselves with the unmedicinal affliction. As the final months pass, many senior students at FHS are excited and ready to head into college, the workforce or whatever awaits them after they wave Fishers High School one last goodbye.
