“Senioritis” is not a professionally recognized medical condition, but I believe it should be. It is closely related to a seasonal depression disorder and also has anxiety and depression symptoms all mixed in with it. It is commonly described as the feeling of being constantly exhausted and unmotivated to finish projects and study as your time to graduate nears.
Most teachers and faculty laugh it off. When I attempted to interview three separate teachers about what I considered a serious epidemic, they all shrugged it off and said, “you’ll get through it.”
I am not the only who has suffered from it; it is extremely common amongst high school seniors. According to a recent study by Omniscient, 78 percent of all high school seniors experience senioritis on a national scale.
According to an article in The VOICE, “Senioritis is more real and aggressive than ever.’”
The stats are pretty astounding and very terrifying to imagine that almost 80 percent of all high schoolers nationwide are not exerting their maximum efforts into their final year.
The percentages have only increased throughout the last few years from now, as seniors who went through the pandemic eras of hybrid schools or online schooling, where most of the work was completed from their bedrooms. These students have been proven to fall more vulnerable to senioritis. Having this “disease” causes work ethic to decline at a rapid rate and extreme absences in their senior year.
Is there a way to cure senioritis or to prevent it?
I believe before this ever could happen, teachers, faculty, counselors and parents need to recognize it first as a REAL CONDITION. It has been laughed at for too long just as SAD conditions were, which they have found to be a true condition.
I do not believe Senioritis should be treated with just throwing seniors on medication.
I believe that it should be recognized and discussed and understood and only having a plan for each individual student to combat it will help.
Recognizing the signs of senioritis rather than just shrugging off that the student is lazy would be a great start.
According to an article in www.homeworkhelpglobal.com some of the signs are waking up in the morning becomes a difficult task, finding yourself becoming “over school,” impossible to focus, impossible to stay awake in class, longer study breaks, not caring about appearance and wearing sweats or pajamas to school, procrastinating on projects and homework, daydreaming about quitting, and feeling relief as soon as the bell rings are just a few of the signs.
Let’s start out advocating to make this a recognized condition, and then helping students accordingly whether it be through counseling, organization plans, tasks to help engage. Making it exciting to still be at school rather than exciting for it to end.
I know that I am not the only senior student that has been affected by this. Angelina Fontanez another senior here at FHE has had the feeling that “she can’t wait for school to be over” but she still managed to carry a 3.5 GPA and stay on top of her homework.
For me, I have had the most severe case one could have. I did not want to be at school, could find a thousand ways I would better make use of my time, did not care what my grades were, or care if I even graduated. I had little motivation for waking up in the morning, and found little to no interest in anything at school. I had senioritis bad and now the only thing I look forward to is graduating, even if its by the skin of my teeth, just so senioritis can be over.