It’s only a few months into your senior year, you’re passing every single one of your classes, and you are caught up on all of your work. All of a sudden, right before finals, you lose the motivation you had at the start of the year. While some students entering their senior year are excited and ready for an easy ride to graduation, some students develop a major case of Senioritis.
Senioritis is often a term used to describe a loss of motivation during your senior year. This could include having a drop in letter grades, skipping class, or even turning in mediocre work.
While Senioritis is not contagious or a genuine disease, it can be prevented. Here are our tips on how to prevent it:
Taking classes that interest you. Take classes you feel you would enjoy or even classes that seem easy. This will help keep you motivated to do the work and keep you from being bored.
Set specific goals for yourself. Having a clear goal in mind makes it easier to want to put in the work to make it happen. This doesn’t just mean academically- try also having some personal goals to keep you interested and motivated in school. You could enter a study group, volunteer for local organizations and events, make time during your week to read a book, go on a walk, and so much more.
Stay Active. This is the last thing you want to do when struggling with Senioritis. However, staying on top of things is much better than falling very far behind. Instead of hyper-focusing on your favorite sitcom, “The Office,” try to hyper-focus on setting goals for yourself. It’s extremely rewarding while also being productive and getting things done.
Senior at Lafayette Sophia Cruse was interviewed about her struggles with Senioritis. When asked some questions, she responded about how she manages to overcome feeling unmotivated and how these feelings are inflicted.
When asked how she manages stress, she stated, “A big part of managing stress is listening to good music, eating good food, and spending time with friends.” Next, we asked if there was one thing that she would change about the school year to get a more leisurely start, and she said, “I would have focused more on getting my summer work done, so I wouldn’t have to spend the first few weeks playing catch up!” Lastly, we asked if she believes that the work assigned to her is part of the reason she is unmotivated, she said, “Yes! Especially classes that are not a graduation requirement and involve a lot of busy work. It’s hard to feel motivated to do work for classes that feel useless.”
If these don’t help, our best advice would be to contact a counselor or a teacher and let them know what is going on. Best of luck to those struggling, and all it takes is a little support and a great group of people behind you to back you up!
