sen·ior·i·tis

/ˌsēnyəˈrīdəs/

noun

HUMOROUS•US

1. a supposed affliction of students in their final year of high school or college, characterized by a decline in motivation or performance.
2. “I try not to let my grades suffer from my senioritis”

It isn’t uncommon for students throughout Tahoma hallways to experience (or witness) the widespread infection of Senioritis as the end of our 2018-2019 school year draws to a close. Both students and educators alike may dare say that they have noticed certain pupils suffer from an early-onset diagnosis. Our readers will be educated on the essentials needed to survive the apocalypse that is Senior year, Senioritis, and just how to keep this nasty disease at bay.

The first step required to survive this whirlwind of hormonal academic agony: pace yourself. Of course, signing up for too many AP classes as a Junior may already be your personal kiss of death, but do not intend to take on more than you can handle. Avoid registering for classes that will drain you of your humanity, or simply applying on a whim. Signing up for comedic lit just because everyone at the lunch table laughed at your “Yo Mama” joke in the eighth grade may be “for the meme” in the moment, but will not hesitate to bite back once a heavy workload is established.

On the gentle decline to graduation, you shouldn’t allow the impending relief of freedom be what keeps you from your cap and gown. Always bare in mind that your innocent trip to Gravity for a quick caffeine fix (“conveniently” in the middle of your sixth period) could be the one day you have to take notes you will you use on your open-journal final. Leave your senior year with a bang, in the sense of giving your teacher’s’ something to remember you by. Perhaps not by parading across the stage while throwing the bird in every which direction, but by allowing to leave your educators with the positive impact they’ve imprinted on you.

Though the thought of bidding your teachers and professors goodbye with that cap and diploma may seem centuries away, it comes sooner than expected. When the troubling disease of Senioritis hits, don’t panic. Having little unmotivated moments in life is vital to discovering what organization methods work for you. From the student harboring a train-car’s worth of highlighters in their bag, to the student who has never seen, heard, or felt the touch of a three ring binder, never allow Senioritis to take hold. Contraction could leave risk of developing into something much heavier: SUPER-Senioritis.