Senioritis: 78 percent of seniors say they have it, but is it real?

“I didn’t really notice it; it just kind of happened,” senior Anthony Harr said.

Harr explained that senioritis, which he described as “not wanting to do your work—at all,” is something he has had since the beginning of first semester.

Senior Jacobi Harris, who also claimed to have senioritis, described the condition as “a feeling that you just don’t want to be in school and you want to leave. You are ready for college and you want to be free.”

In a survey conducted by The Omniscient, 78 percent of seniors admitted to having senioritis. Even though a majority of seniors believe they have senioritis, it has not seemed to take a toll on their performance thus far. Compared to last year, 48 percent of seniors say their absences have stayed about the same, while 33 percent say they have decreased; 53 percent say their tardies have stayed consistent, while 32 percent say they’ve decreased; and 43 percent don’t see a drastic change in their grades, while 37 percent saw improvement.

Still, some experts believe that senioritis is a legitimate psychological condition.

“I think of senioritis as the ‘perfect storm,’” Seattle psychologist Laura S. Castor told the Boston Globe. “So many forces are coming to bear on seniors all at once.”

Some of these “forces” include excitement and nervousness about finishing high school, exhilaration about starting the next chapter of their lives, fear of leaving high school behind, the pleasure of freedom from parental authority and the fright of being without supervision.

Some others do not see senioritis as a psychological condition. Principal Chris Blice thinks it is “an excuse,” and senior Chris Runyan agrees.

“It might be an excuse for people to be lazy,” Runyan said.

In School Suspension (ISS) proctor Brian Harrington said that he is no stranger to the concept of senioritis, and admitted to experiencing many of the same effects when he was a senior in high school.

“Everybody had it. I went to school here and it probably [started] around March or April. We had six periods then and six periods is a lot, so I would skip fifth and sixth period every now and then,” Harrington said.

As of now, only 13 percent of seniors see an increase in their tardies, but Harrington believes there is a correlation between tardies and senioritis.

“You can tell when the senioritis kicks in because that’s when the tardies increase,” Harrington said. “[Tardies are usually] the only reason I get seniors, because by this time they know what they’re doing. They know how to act right, or, at least get away with it.”

Although Harrington sees a correlation between senioritis and ISS, some faculty members say that cases of senioritis have decreased this year compared to past years.

“Over the last few years I don’t think [senioritis] has been [as much of a problem], but when I first started teaching I definitely noticed it,” said social studies teacher Andy Sandel. “I don’t know what is going on, but seniors this year, last year and the year before that have tried harder, so it’s definitely not as much of an issue now.”

Many teachers deal with seniors day in and day out, and have different ways of treating senioritis.

“If they’re not going to bring it, then they are going to fail,” said science teacher Sarah Robertson. “So I let them fall on their face for a little bit because that’s what a college instructor will do to them in a few months, and then I talk to them like a momma. I set them straight.”

English teacher Pat Thornhill, who chooses to teach only seniors, says she is not surprised when her seniors have senioritis, but says it is not a problem and it doesn’t affect the way she teaches.

“Since my expectations don’t change, it may be a problem for some kids who don’t want to do the work, and it may be a frustration to me when I run into it, but I wouldn’t classify it as a problem per se,” Thornhill said.

According to guidance counselor Telisa Hunter, one of the most common characteristics of senioritis is the misconception that courses taken during a student’s senior year don’t matter, and she believes Northwood could do a better job of stressing this to the entire student body.

“I think one thing we could stress a little harder [is that] your senior classes do matter, even if you’ve already gotten into college,” Hunter said. “I have had some students not get [accepted to college] because their senioritis started first semester, not second, and I’ve had students not get into colleges that I would have thought they were shoo-ins for.”

Despite the fact that Hunter sees senioritis as a problem at Northwood, she doesn’t believe there is a real way to fix it.

“If there was [a solution], I would make a whole lot of money,” she said. “If there was [a solution to] apathy in general, I would make a whole lot of money.”

— By Madison Roberts