The virus that has swept the nation’s teens for years is senioritis. With symptoms like mild to moderate cases of staring out the window, excessive hallway wandering, and increases in the whining gland, it’s a sickness only a few can be immune to. If you didn’t catch on already, senioritis is high school students’ inability to have motivation as they get closer to their exit from secondary school. Whether this is because they are trying to figure out their future plans or because they have already been accepted to a college so they no longer feel like the work is worth it, according to a study done by Omniscient, about 78 percent of high school seniors experience senioritis. 

As this being something so common, Rileigh Bowen, a senior at Pennridge High School says, “most of my AP teachers recognize senioritis and accommodate it”. Bowen has always taken pride in her grades and has put forth high-quality work but with this year of applications and deadlines, she finds herself losing the drive she once had. She spoke about her decline of motivation stating, “throughout high school, I have worked hard to get into a good college. Now that I am in said college, I no longer want or care to put the work into school”. This feeling is shared by many students. During senior year, students are thrown deadline after deadline and are expected to make career decisions that will be impacting the rest of their life. With this on their plate, the math bookwork they had due last night and the biology test they have tomorrow have little weight in their mind.

Is this an acceptable feeling? Ben Stutzman, the parent of a senior at Pennridge High School, quickly responded yes adding, “I think it’s a reality because you are working to assemble a vision for your future, and as you do that, it includes a much bigger picture than where you are at day to day in school”. As suspected, it is unrealistic to say teachers should put an end to schoolwork in the final semester and lessen expectations for seniors but is there a way we can implement more self-reflection-based work in those final months. Ben Stutzman, also a previous teacher at Dock Mennonite Academy, said “I don’t think teachers should lay off in terms of expectations, but there would be value in having the schoolwork tie into the planning and reflection that seniors are already doing for life after high school”. 

In these final months, the last thing students need is more projects and assignments. Maybe the self-reflection of the things you have learned and where you are going would be of better benefit. Busy work does nothing except make me get less sleep and turn in lesser quality work so why not try something different. Senior year should be about the reflection of the past and the anticipation of the future.