To put it promptly, high school is a race, and we, the students, are all running it. Freshmen year is the starting line, and as novices, we do not quite understand the dynamics of the race yet. We barrel ahead at maximum speed, without establishing any sense of pace or rhythm. As sophomore year rolls around, our foundation is a bit more stable and we settle at a steady and still-improving jog. When junior year commences, our foundations are wrenched cruelly from underneath our feet, and we flail helplessly as the SATs and ACTs are tossed like hurdles into our path. Roughly halfway through senior year, after college applications pass, is the finish line; the rest of senior year simply consists of waiting around for the race results so be announced. Thus takes effect the common and exceedingly dangerous disease by the name of senioritis.

Senioritis, or “a supposed affliction of students in their final year of high school, characterized by a decline in motivation or performance.” Imagine, for instance, finishing a competitive triathlon, and then being asked to compete in several other smaller races while waiting to hear the results. The only reaction somebody can have to this preposterous proposition is, “No, thank you.” This is exactly what it feels like to be a second semester senior. The tedious, grueling, and fatigue-filled race is over, and the only thing seniors want to do is lie face-down in a corner, using their textbooks as pillows, because is there any reason to even read them any longer?

Several seniors share similar thoughts about the severity of senioritis. “Senioritis is something that sophomores think they have, but they do not,” says Rachel Mandelstam. “It is not doing homework and basically giving up on life without knowing why,” she expands. Ben Schouten puts senioritis in perspective by describing that “Senioritis is like having gotten my driver’s license and the first car I got was a turtle, and everyone else is driving a snail.” It may make sense to some, while not to others; but that lack of understanding captures the very aspect behind the concept of senioritis. However, we must bypass this situation, even if we have to shed an arm or a leg in the process.

“I was Harvard-bound sophomore year, but then I got senioritis, and now I’m in elementary school,” said last year’s graduate William Su. Although this hypothetical situation sounds a bit drastic, it captures the essence of senioritis perfectly.

Suspended in a limbo between the obligation to excel and the desire for it all to be over, seniors crawl on towards graduation day. However, what some fail to realize is that this crawl is not a horizontal crawl on the floor. This is an upwards crawl, and there is plenty of room below us to fall straight down. Therefore, we must latch on with our fingernails and refuse to let go, no matter what; latch on to our A’s, on to our extracurriculars, and most importantly, on to our college acceptances, because if we start to slowly slide downwards, colleges may repeal our acceptances too. Although it feels like we are bidding our own sweet time until the end of the year arrives, we should at least bid our time in a productive manner by staying on top of our schoolwork.

On the other hand, while some seniors roll around in bed in the morning, lacking the energy and the will to get up and go to school, others are quite different. They are the seniors who are determined to make the most of their last year of free education and to enjoy as much time with their friends as they can. For some it is hard to believe that they will graduate soon and enter the “real world” which is composed of rent and taxes. “Second semester senior year is when you don’t know whether to soak up every moment with people or to drift away in order to not get your heart broken when you leave,” says Wilcox senior Samia Abbasi. “And you start strategically doing things that align with those two different choices,” she expands.

However, senior year can be the best year of one’s high school career if only one makes it to be so. With a great balance of school work, sports, and events with friends, senior year can be wonderfully extraordinary.