#SSS Life

I first noticed it a few months ago when I was checking PowerSchool.  I scrolled down the “Grades and Attendance” page and saw a grade that was… well, let’s just say it was lower than anything else I’d ever gotten.  I should have panicked.  Instead, I shrugged to myself and thought, “Eh, I’ll bring it up.”

I had contracted senioritis.  Also called SSS-ing, among other things, this deadly disease has been striking seniors everywhere.  I’ve lost some friends to it, and I’ve been fighting a battle with it within myself ever since I noticed those first terrifying germs.  After all, tempting as it is, losing our seniors to senioritis is serious, and this recent epidemic on campus should not be taken lightly.

One of the causes of this tragic disease is college visits.  By exposing its victim to the outside world and showing them how good life can be outside of the drudgery of high school, the college visit helps senioritis set into the brain.  After all, the victim thinks, I’ve already gotten into college.  It’s not like high school really matters anymore.  The college visit has shown a very positive view of the future (the college being visited) and reminded the student that there is something outside of high school to look forward to, that life is not composed entirely of extra-curricular activities and grades.  This is a very worrying precedent that should be stopped immediately: all high school students should be forced to wear figurative blinders until the time of their graduation to ensure their safety from any slacking tendencies.

I think it’s also safe to say that there is at least one other prominent cause of senioritis on campus.  When students are more concerned about how their innovative and confetti-filled promposals are going to go or whether their dress fits perfectly, not to mention all the prom table drama, it’s difficult for them to think about depressing things like homework and deadlines.  It is for this reason – and my very sincere concern for the health of the senior class – that I suggest prom be held in the West Gym this year.  Students would most certainly find their senioritis symptoms clearing as they considered the prospect of going to all that trouble for just another typical IMSA dance.

Besides avoiding these two very contagious events, there are a few other things that concerned seniors can do to avoid infection.  Talking to Julia on a regular basis, reading the fine print about rescindment from your top choice school, asking a teacher to give you a lecture on the benefits of their class and the necessity of paying attention in it, running into Brenda Bazan when you skip class, and considering the number and difficulty of the AP tests you signed up to take should do the trick.  Remember that it’s very important to feel slightly stifled, heavily burdened by the prospect of your future, and guilty about any time you spend thinking about something other than schoolwork.  Not all of the above measures will be necessary for every student with a case of senioritis; nor should all of them be taken at the same time, but should it prove necessary, they will help effect a cure.  It is my hope that our class of 2015 can be free of this wicked disease by the end of April.

In all seriousness, acute senioritis can have some devastating consequences, but it’s also just a symptom of the fact that we’re growing up and moving on.  Our priorities are changing – too fast, perhaps, but in the right direction for our futures.  It’s true that we’re about to fly free from this place in a month and a half, but we’re also still going to be here for a month and a half.  We can’t stay here forever, but we still must remember that we’re not gone yet.

(featured image: http://tx.english-ch.com/teacher/jun/news/homework-has-few-benefits-says-study/)