by Emilio Ceja

All of the hard work done for four years of high school by students can in some cases mean nothing if they catch “senioritis”. 

All of the good grades, outstanding GPA’s, and credit for classes can be looked over and ignored if students continue through the last months of high school with this epidemic. The unwillingness to do work the second semester of senior year can not only mean lower grades for students but can also bring much larger consequences to the table. 

Throughout my years at St. John Bosco I have seen many seniors change from their academically achieving selves into the sweatpants wearing, sandals rocking, seniors that no longer care about the whole highschool appeal. Many of these seniors sometimes do not realize the real harm that they can cause to their own future by not doing the often simple work that is assigned to them. Once accepted into colleges, the colleges themselves have the ability to revoke your acceptance if your grades are not adequate to maintain acceptance. For many this can be unknown, once they realize the guidelines, it is too late for anything to change and they are stuck without the option to attend a university that they didn’t intend on choosing.

In order to fully understand the mindset behind students and faculty at Bosco and their opinions on what is “senioritis”, I first had to understand what senioritis actually is. According to the oxford dictionary, senioritis is, “a supposed affliction of students in their final year of high school or college, characterized by a decline in motivation or performance.” The decline in grades and effort in school by the high school seniors can be seen through their mediocre work on assignments and lack of care for certain policies such as school uniform and facial hair policies at Bosco. Although not reaching certain extremes that can be seen in other schools or in prior years at Bosco, I believe that if students are not careful with how far they let this senioritis go, they will not be ready for the rude awakening that is to come. 

The head counselor at Bosco, Miss. Skipper has been a counselor at other high schools and colleges prior, so she knows all about the negative effects of senioritis. Senioritis is often seen primarily during the last semester or couple months of high school or college but can begin prior to that. Even starting to lose motivation as soon as the end of the first semester.

“Sometimes the second they get that first college acceptance, they’re so relieved that they immediately feel like they don’t need to do anything else.”, Said Miss. Skipper.

Although common among students our age, we must make sure that the senioritis this year is not one that will ruin or hinder anyone’s college aspirations. The students must know the consequences prior to their actions or lack of actions in classes that are required to pass or get a certain grade to keep their acceptance from colleges. If this information is passed on to the seniors of this year and upcoming seniors, then maybe the sweats and sandals will be a thing of the past and students will finish off highschool just as strong as they started it.