As we get deeper into the school year, the seniors are now even more excited to graduate. From talking about colleges, FAFSA, scholarships, sports, and graduation, there’s one thing that could doom them all…senioritis.

“Senioritis is something that hits you when you know you’re almost there but you’re still too far away from it. Like you know graduation is less than a year away but it’s still far,” said West High senior, Arleet Del Real. Del Real is one of the many students with senioritis. “I started to notice that this was a problem on the first day of school when I knew I wasn’t going to like my first hour so I went to go get coffee instead,” she said.

Kendra Carrillo is a West student that rarely ever misses school and has a G.P.A. of about 3.9. “I think I have really good attendance because I want to keep up with the work and get good grades.” But Carrillo also added, “I do have senioritis and I’m losing motivation to keep up with work, but not enough to stop trying.”

“I definitely think it’s a real issue for a lot of kids. It happens at different times, especially with all of the different things that students tend to struggle with during high school. Both personally and school related,” said April Christianson, a West counselor. “The month of February is when senioritis is at its worst since the last transcript that colleges will see is in, seniors just don’t want to try anymore,” she said. She helps seniors with senioritis see the big picture and motivates them to focus on their schoolwork so they will be able to graduate.

Although all three of them are in different stages, they all agree on having senioritis and that it is a real issue. It is something that affects most seniors and even some juniors say they are starting to get it.

Del Real is currently working on her goal of only skipping four times a month and is trying very hard to not be late to school. Carrillo is still attending school every day and pushing through school. Christianson is continuing to help all of her seniors and making their senior year memorable.

Some factors that can increase senioritis are having a car to be able to leave school, having friends that skip, not being prepared for a class, not getting enough sleep, not having motivation, being lazy, etc.

Senioritis is not an excuse for the students to skip class; they simply need breaks in between the week to make it through their senior year.