Masks Up, It’s Senioritis Season

By Khaleeda Dawood

April 4, 2022

(Colonie, NY) Students have stayed strong these past couple of years through COVID-19, but now comes a disease that has been here far longer. We are now approaching the time of year when Colonie High School seniors start to experience symptoms of senioritis.

The Oxford Dictionary explains senioritis as “A supposed affliction of students in their final year of high school or college, characterized by a decline in motivation or performance.”

Although the term is often used as a joke, Colonie students say senioritis is a real condition people experience.

“I would describe it as seeing the finish line and realizing you don’t necessarily have to work as hard anymore to reach it,” says senior Nabeelah Etimady.

Attending school five days a week, nine months a year for 12 years, is, without a doubt, a challenge, and seniors would like to reward themselves in their last few months of high school.

“I have followed the same routine and applied tons of effort for 12 years,” Etimady said. “I think I deserve to slack off a bit.”

Each person's experience with senioritis is different. For some, it's losing interest in studies, not completing assignments, procrastinating, or even seeing a drop in grades and for others, it's skipping class and turning in subpar work.

Colonie senior Jenna Noguera would describe senioritis as “Basically just giving up, you don’t really care about turning in your assignments or how good you do on tests; you just don’t have any willpower to do your schoolwork because you're just so done with it.”

Noguera says she's always been motivated by good grades and done well in school, but now she feels like a good grade isn't motivating enough, and after applying to colleges and waiting on one more for their answer; she sees the remainder of the year as pointless.

Senior Alexandria Newcomb says she's noticed she's been piling up more work on herself, but unlike many with senioritis, she says she wants to stay in high school and fears going to college. She enjoys the comfort she has now and is stressed about what the future entails.

Newcomb wouldn’t describe herself as necessarily having senioritis. Although she is exhausted by schoolwork, she is not consumed by it. Newcomb says she would rather stay in high school a little longer.

Just like any other affliction, senioritis will eventually come to an end. This is a minor setback that seniors will no doubt bounce back from.