Senioritis is a disease that strikes high school seniors.  The most common symptoms include cutting class, slacking off and not caring about anything school-related.  The majority of cases start to develop around Thanksgiving or the New Year, when college applications have been completed.  After first semester grades are submitted, the cases become more severe.  As prom season hits, the only concerns are how to find a date and figure out what to wear.  By the time students know where they are going to college, there is no hope left, and everyone has checked out.  Many consider senioritis to be contagious.  The only cure for this disease is graduation.

Some students are cursed with senioritis as early as the end of their freshman year.  Others fade in and out and stay focused when they need to but slack off when they can.  I, however, fall under none of these categories.  The phrase “second semester senior” means nothing to me, despite my constant efforts to surrender myself to this infection.  I have all the reason to stop caring about my grades. Yet, for some reason unknown to me, my brain will not let me.  Regardless of the fact that I have already committed to college, completed my required community service and met the requirements for lifetime CSF and salutatorian, I cannot give up.  My grades are still my top priority, and I do not feel like I am able to miss school. I could not even allow myself to be a counselor for Outdoor Education for the fifth graders because I was too stressed about taking off a week of school.

This strange immunity is completely unexpected.  Like every other senior, I was ready for the pressure and stress to just disappear.   However, I still care about everything in which I am involved.  Many people ask me why I still spend hours working on the newspaper and working out the kinks for next year’s class, or why I want to have our cheerleading routine for the senior pep rally ready to go three months before the actual performance. They say that these things will not matter in five to ten years, and these people may be right.  Some may think I am crazy or a nerd who cares too much. But, because of my resistance to senioritis, I know that I will be successful in life. •