by Daisy Creager | Staff Writer

Many students joke about it. The school gives awards for it. However, Senioritis is more serious that students realize, and the cases are more severe in the second semester. Seniors change their schedule, study less and do less work.

“A lot of seniors come and change their schedules at semester because they decide they want to take it easy their final semester of senior year,” counselor Rebecca Hudkins said, “They have that Senioritis kick in pretty good so they start changing and dropping classes. “

With class rank finalized in December and graduation coming fast, many seniors become less motivated and anxious about the future.

“I think it’s a natural reaction that people have the closer you get to your goal, the more anxious you become, the more excited you become, the more you feel like you’ve reached your goal,” assistant principal Stuart Guthrie said, “It would be kinda like if I decided to lose 50 pounds, by the time I lost 48 I’d be thinking ‘I’ve made it.’ I think there is a natural let down at that time of the year for seniors.”

Along with showing up late to class and not doing homework, seniors begin dropping difficult classes second semester. While these students do it to ‘take it easy’ second semester, they do not realize the importance of taking challenging classes their senior year.

“The reality is that senior year is important because it should be gearing you up for college instead of allowing you to slack off and take it easy,” Hudkins said, “A lot of kids when they hit their freshman year of college tend to have issues and tend to struggle and some of them, unfortunately, don’t survive in college because they don’t know how to manage their time because they don’t have anyone telling them to study.”

As well as challenging themselves with hard classes, students should also keep good study habits.

“Colleges can still see your grades, and [slacking off] is not a good habit to practice,” senior Blake Pundt said, “Keep doing the same thing you’re doing, keep trying just as hard.”

While it is not common for college to change their admission decision, a dramatic change in academics will catch their attention.

“They will notice if the student goes from being a straight A student to all of a sudden not passing classes second semester,” Hudkins said,  ”Most of the time I don’t know that they would change their admission decision as much as put them on probation at the beginning of their freshman year.”

Aside from better preparing themselves for college, seniors should work hard second semester to take pride in their work.

“Think of it as a personal goal to finish well,” Guthrie said, “Think of the pride that you will get from finishing with A’s and B’s rather than B’s and C’s. Remember, that graduating from high school is not the end of your education. There’s college and even if you don’t go to college you still, hopefully, will learn for the rest of your life. Don’t short change yourself, put in your full effort. Finish strong.”