As the first semester of the year comes to an end, an underlying epidemic has taken over FLHS.

“Senioritis”is an observable phenomenon that occurs among some high school and college students during the second semester of their senior year…or even sometimes at the start.

But, is senioritis real? Most high school students, especially seniors and teachers would say, yes, it is real. However, others may disagree, considering this “disease” as more of an excuse for seniors to blow-off the second semester of school, especially once they have heard from colleges. 

Micheal Lynch, a senior at FLHS, has a lot to say about this controversial topic.

“Senioritis is [a definition] for people who don’t have a good work ethic. They just use it as an excuse to not work hard.” Lynch sees this as “an issue because students at FLHS just use Senioritis as an excuse as to why they get bad grades.”

Senioritis is generally characterized by symptoms such as: apathy, low motivation, and a tendency to shrug off responsibilities like going to class, doing homework, or studying for tests. But senioritis is not a recognized medical condition or mental health disorder. In fact, some people think that senioritis is just a convenient, made-up excuse for laziness.

High school seniors have either gotten really good at faking this condition, or they actually experience a lack of motivation that they can’t control. 

Or, maybe some students genuinely experience this problem, whereas others take advantage of the opportunity to slack off since they have a preconceived justification for their un-energetic performance.

College-bound students tend to suffer the biggest consequences. That’s because most colleges and universities won’t stop caring about your grades just because you’ve been given an acceptance letter. Colleges can, and do, revoke admission if final-semester grades drop too much. Many colleges don’t even get final transcripts from high schools until summer, and by that time it’s too late to make-up for poor grades.

So giving up right as the year comes to an end isn’t the smartest idea. Many kids think that their admission would never get revoked…it’s easy to find stories about high school students who have graduated and then come to learn that they were no longer welcome at their chosen colleges just as the fall semester was about to start.

It is important for seniors to recognize that they need to push through to the very end. It’s evident that teachers are understanding of this issue. So the best thing to do is to stay on top of your work, continue getting extra help from teachers or tutors and finish off the year strong.