As first semester comes to a close, I am awestruck that I will soon begin my last semester at Parker. With that being said, I have no doubt that many students in my grade will be infected with the condition known as “Senioritis,” which causes Seniors to lose motivation and become more careless about academic work because they no longer have an incentive.

Although most colleges won’t be able to look at second semester grades before they make admissions decisions, there are great ramifications if one’s GPA drops off significantly. In the eyes of many colleges, senior grades are a good indicator of how a student will perform at the collegiate level, so if you are accepted to a university that categorizes you as an A-student and you are getting C’s and D’s, this will inevitably create doubt about whether you are actually committed to learning at the next level.

Additionally, college is much harder than high school. To be successful academically in college, one has to possess superb time management skills. You can’t just mess around and try to review an entire unit of material in one night. What is so irrational about Senioritis is that if you stop trying academically, then the transition from high school to college will be extremely miserable. If you maintained the same amount of effort throughout senior year, the transition will still be difficult, but giving your cognitive skills a seven month—the time between the end of first semester senior year and the start of college—vacation will surely result in unpleasantness.

While it is easy to demonize second semester seniors who let up academically, the college process is extremely exhausting. I would probably say that, for a Parker student, the college process starts at the beginning of high school or maybe even eighth grade because grades in eighth grade determine one’s science and math tracks.

Others might say that the college process starts when one begins prepping for the SAT or ACT, which is quite unfamiliar to a Parker student who does not take many standardized tests. After a student finally achieves the score they desire, they then have to develop an expertise in reflective writing. Additionally, while a student takes practice test after practice test or attempts to crank out essay after essay, they also have to maintain a high GPA.

So it is reasonable that many students show fatigue after they finish their first semester of senior year.

While there are some cases of “Senioritis” that are justified, there are many that mimic the type of “Senioritis” shown in the movie “Dazed and Confused.” These are students who actively try to do as little as possible and have no respect for authority. Obviously, Parker seniors aren’t as rambunctious as the characters in “Dazed and Confused,” but, I would not say that drug culture is absent from past cases of “Senioritis” at Parker.

Being a second semester senior reveals a lot about your character and integrity. If it is your last semester at Parker, would you rather be remembered as the student who rarely showed up to class in the months prior to graduation or would you rather be remembered as someone who pursued their academic interests every opportunity they got?