Being a senior in high school is the final steppingstone of your secondary education. I remember being a senior in high school and seeing myself so close to the finish line but having little motivation to make it to the end. Senioritis hit me and a bunch of my friends pretty badly. In our eyes, we had already done all that needed to be done. Carrying this mindset was a huge factor playing into my senioritis. I knew I had a problem and didn’t know how to solve it. Trying to turn things around, I thought long and hard about how far I had come and how now wasn’t the time to give up. I knew, in the end, I would be happy that it was all over with and that I had stuck through and graduated high school.

One of the first things I did was talk to my English teacher because I knew she would give me great advice. I told her straight up that I did not want to do the work for her class. Despite that, she encouraged me to keep on pushing because she knew that I had it in me to keep on going. It was easy to dismiss her pleas, but knowing that she truly cared about supporting me and seeing me continue is a fact that eased some of my troubles. I often think back on how she pushed me to push through my senioritis and am truly grateful I had her encouraging me on the sidelines.

Another thing I did was ask my friends how they were feeling about school and if any of them were having difficulty with senioritis. Like myself, many of them had very similar outlooks on school. Hearing thoughts and opinions that were similar to my own brought me comfort. I was happy to know I wasn’t alone in this fight. We all had similar reasons for our senioritis, so our methods for combating were fairly close, too. We worked together after school and created group chats to help motivate each other.

While keeping up with my academics was important, I still wanted to enjoy my senior year and have fun with my friends. What was the point of doing all this work if I couldn’t have any fun in the meantime? I saw happiness as key to keeping up in school, so my friends and I did all we could to have fun in and out of school. If you are currently having problems with senioritis, I highly recommend looking into more ways to be engaged in the activities you enjoy so that school doesn’t become your only priority. Having fun activities to look forward to makes your senior year more enjoyable, which will serve as a huge boost to your morale.

I think the method that motivated me the most was setting up a graduation countdown timer. Watching the days dwindle was so exciting, and it put a lot into perspective. Knowing that I only had a finite number of days left was super encouraging. Quantifying time can serve as a great way to remain motivated.

As I am weeks away from graduating with my bachelor’s, I have drawn on my past experiences to remedy the senioritis I have been feeling. This time around, the emotions and feelings I have seem all too familiar, so it has benefited me to reflect on how I dealt with senioritis in the past. Not only have these reflections helped me regain some motivation, but they have also made me realize that I have simply come too far to give up now. While the world has changed so much from when I was a senior in high school, my feelings toward senioritis have almost been a complete mirror image of when I was in high school. I’m grateful that I have my previous experiences to lean on. 

Fighting against senioritis can be challenging. There also isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach to dealing with it. So to all of those having issues with senioritis, just know that you are almost there and you can keep on going. You only have a few weeks left, and when it is over, you’ll be happy that you stuck through it and crossed the finish line.