They have been trapped in high school for almost four years now. They trudge through every day, not paying much attention to the time that is flying by. It hasn’t occurred to them how soon they will be out of the prison called high school…until now. Most, if not all, seniors catch a case of senioritis early on in their senior year. Once they have caught senioritis, there is little hope that they will recover, at least not until they receive their high school diploma. Upon catching senioritis, students no longer find joy in the day to day attending of classes. The seniors begin to realize that half of the classes that they are taking won’t matter in the long run of their career ambitions. The awe and terror of what high school was before they started now starts to crumble at the foundation. There are a few exceptions to the contraction of this horrid disease, however. Seniors who get involved come to appreciate the fact that they will no longer be able to attend high school anymore, so they want to make their last year the very best.

High school is life for the students that attend it. Nothing else really matters to the teenagers at the time because high school is all they really know. Senioritis plants a furrowing little bug in seniors’ minds that they don’t like the life they lead. The bug planted by senioritis whispers of change. Although there is nothing wrong with high school, seniors begin to feel antsy. They don’t find the excitement of attending high school anymore. Senioritis can be enthralling; it gets to the best of the seniors out there. Without realizing it, seniors mentally begin preparing to leave their lives as they know them for change. Seniors don’t really comprehend why they suddenly resent high school, but they do. They are bored with it. High school becomes mundane to the seniors, and they just want out. Senioritis makes seniors anxious to get out of the boring, humdrum lives they lead and move on to bigger and better things, though they tend to have no idea what those bigger and better things may be.

Senior year begins for most seniors as a normal high school year would usually begin. The senior students fall into the normal routine of attending eight class hours throughout the block days. When senioritis hits the unsuspecting students, a realization hits soon after. Why would a student who planned on being an author or a lawyer even want to think about taking a calculus class? Is there a reason for a future kindergarten teacher to be taking classes on animal sciences? Seniors begin to get a sense of frustration that they were led to believe that those classes were needed. Some seniors may cease attending their classes period. Why go to calculus when he or she won’t need it after graduation? Seniors start to count down the months, days, hours, and in some dire cases, even minutes until graduation. In classes, the clocks seem to be slowed down. Time drags on for the seniors who just want to move on with their lives. High school classes just don’t seem to hold seniors’ interests after senioritis hits.

Students work up to high school for eight years. In middle school, some eighth graders start to hear horrible rumors about how rough high school will be. Some young students may be scared for their life before entering the dreaded high school. This phobia tends to die down midway through the freshman year, fading more through the sophomore and junior year, and by the time it is the student’s senior year, fear of high school has completely evaporated. As a senior, the students have experienced a lot of what their high school has to offer. Coming in as a freshman, students have a sort of awed respect for the upperclassmen, faculty, and even the high school building. Seniors no longer have upperclassmen to fear and/or respect from a distance. Seniors are the upperclassmen now. Four years in the high school has given them a glimpse at inner workings, what teachers should be avoided, and it helps them realize that it is probably better for your health to eat at home for lunch. In essence, seniors have unmasked the façade high school received from fellow students back in middle school. High school still has a lot to offer; it is not what seniors are looking for anymore.

Senioritis does not always hit every single senior. Exceptions to the rule tend to be more involved in their school. Being involved helps pass the time until graduation faster, it increases the happiness of seniors, and it keeps school spirit at a higher level. When seniors thrust themselves into school activities, they find more friends and more fun throughout their high school year. Applying for colleges helps drive it home that they are changing things in their lives. Seniors may realize that they will no longer be living with Mom and Dad; they will have to live in the real world. This realization may pull seniors away from the beckoning call of senioritis because now they feel that they should appreciate their last year of high school while they still can. Nine months of school passes by a lot faster than some may think; seniors should take full advantage of their last nine months of public education.

Senioritis is nearly unavoidable for high school seniors. One cure for senioritis is just to get more involved with the high school that the seniors attend. If they are active in school activities, they notice time flying by less and less. When the high school seniors grasp that their time in high school is dwindling, so it should be cherished, senioritis seems to dim down a little bit. If seniors are not willing to get involved in extracurricular activities at their high school, and they don’t comprehend the preciousness of their last high school year, senioritis will claim yet another victim. This disease is a borderline pandemic, but it can be treated fairly easy. Seniors just have to open their minds to the big picture, and not just on the seconds slowly slipping by in their math class.