As the ends of their high school careers draw near, more and more seniors are finding themselves infected by a “disease” that no medicine can cure.

By this point in the year, as AP tests wind down and seniors have made their decisions for what they plan to do after high school, senioritis has been dramatically spreading.

The effects of it are wide- ranging; some students stop taking notes in classes.

“I used to take notes for psychology,” senior Elizabeth Orozco said. “Now I have to catch up with all of this semester’s notes because I haven’t been taking notes… My grades have been reflecting that.”

The performance of senior classes is impacted significantly by the spread of senioritis.

“It causes us to not do well in classes because we don’t care anymore,” senior Ola Bartula said.

Even sleep does little good when senioritis sets in.

“I just feel more tired, even though I sleep a lot,” senior

Hannah Stanley said. Stanley, in the weeks leading

up to AP testing, said that she felt “no motivation to even study.”

“It’s horrible,” Stanley said. “The need to study is so high, and the motivation to study is so low.”

Senior Matthew Valenta notes that the emphasis is on minimization.

“You look at your grade, and you’re like ‘how little work can I do to keep that grade?’”

Some are impacted outside of their classes.

“I find myself not willing to do homework that is busy work,” Stanley said.

Sometimes, there isn’t even busy work to be done.

“There’s been days… where we don’t do anything,” Bartula said.

The temptation is there for some of these seniors to skip class, according to Valenta.

“You have the urges not to go to class, because what’s the point?” Occasionally, however, there will be reasons for not showing up. “We’re… guilty of not coming to school just because we have an assignment due that we didn’t

finish,” Stanley said.

Still others will just stop showing up altogether.

“My friend hasn’t shown up to school for the past two weeks,” Orozco said. “She’s still gonna graduate with us… Here I am, busting my ass off in math, and she can’t even bring herself out of bed.”

Many are just waiting at this point.

“I see the light at the end of the tunnel,” senior Azeez Alabi said.

Partial blame for senioritis is placed by some students on the attitude that prevails throughout fourth quarter.

“Even in classes that aren’t AP, they basically tell you that fourth quarter is the easiest,” senior Daniella Cozzi said. “The teachers aren’t stupid – they know that no one’s really gonna do anything in May.”

Some directly blame the teachers.

“Teachers are pushing pointless work,” Bartula said.

Others put fault on the weather.

“When you look outside and it’s literally warmer outside than it is in the school, it really makes you

want to be out there instead of in school,” Stanley said. “Everyone just starts thinking about summer, and everything they’ll do outside.”

The mere assurance of graduation is enough for some seniors.

“You know you’re gonna graduate, so a C is not going to kill [you],” Stanley said.

Even if grades don’t take a hit, the feeling that the end is nigh can still set in.

“[At] the start of first semester, I was doing alright,” senior Christian Fidowicz said. “They’re still good, but… I just want this year to be over.”

Some students feel that putting in more effort has merely put them in the same place as others.

“You work hard for four years to get this diploma,” Cozzi said. “Some people didn’t work as hard, but we’re all getting the same diploma.”

It has hardly impacted everyone, though.

“I think there are enough seniors who are still motivated and care about their school year and how they finish their senior year that the classes overall [don’t]

change that much,” teacher Matt Bohnenkamp said. “It just affects some students who have gotten accepted to a college and have already mentally graduated.”

Stanley agrees with this point of view.

“Once you pick a school, you’re just like ‘I’m done.’”

Students know that the senioritis will only get worse with time.

“I definitely think it’s gonna increase once prom and senior breakfast… [are] close,” Stanley said.

While there are no cures available to combat Senioritis, there are still other ways to get around it.

“I try to incentivize my students by putting a lot of tests and important things at the end of the year,” Bohnenkamp said. “I have many opportunities… [so] that students can do extra things to improve their grade.”

Even so, one thing remains for certain.

“It’s real,” Stanley said. “Warn the juniors.”