The end of high school can seem like a slog. How are seniors coping?

As the semester draws to a close, the last half of the school year approaches, which will be the last few months South Eugene’s seniors will have in high school. In an institution as large and diverse as South, seniors are experiencing a wide variety of emotions as they approach the final stretch of their high school careers. Quite a few members of this year’s senior class have already turned 18, legally marking them as adults, and according to the National Center for Education Statistics, 62 percent of American students are pursuing a higher education at a college. For many seniors, this is a season of change as they prepare to officially transition into adulthood – one that manifests in different ways.

“It will be kind of liberating to be out of high school,” senior Marin Hoeh remarked. “It’s strange because I’ve been in school my whole life. Suddenly, being an adult will be interesting.”   

Some seniors are seeing their workload decrease as they enter their final year, because they are attaining all the credits necessary for them to graduate. 

“[As a senior] I can very much tailor my classes to my own interests,” senior Rainier Cem said. “I have two free periods in each semester, both late arrivals, and it’s very nice.” 

Other 12th graders are taking a wealth of Advanced Placement (AP) or International Baccalaureate (IB) classes in which the academic rigor is challenging them right up through their last semester. 

“I feel like senior year has been a lot harder so far,” senior Anya Kiley said. “I am doing full IB, and I am doing AP Calc.”

Additionally, though more seniors find that their schedules are easier on paper than previous years, the stakes of their final year are weighing heavily on them. Though a lot of seniors may have more free periods, many of them describe college applications as stressful.

“I think that my junior year was [harder] in terms of classes, but my senior year is harder in terms of thinking about what I’m going to do in the future. It’s scary,” senior Elysian Sroka confessed. “In the beginning, I didn’t really know what I wanted to do or where I wanted to go. But then, as I went through the process, I figured out what I want and where I’d like to go, but it’s very stressful getting there.”

Regardless of their academic aspirations or the difficulty of their schedules, many South seniors anticipate their final few months of high school with a mix of positive and negative emotions. 

“I think it’s exciting,” Kiley said. “I think it’s sort of relieving to know that even if it sort of seems overwhelming right now, it’s not that much longer and the end is in sight.”

“Kind of crazy to think it’s already done,” another South senior, Megha Patel, remarked. “Freshman year feels like it was yesterday. It’s not believable.” 

However, energetic anticipation of the future does not always translate into the present. With the purpose of school being to prepare students for college or other post high school plans, it can be difficult to retain motivation. According to a study by Omniscient, almost 78 percent of high school seniors described themselves as having “senioritis.” 

“I’m definitely getting the urge to just not do anything more often,” Cem said. “I’m never the type to skip class, [and] I usually use my free periods to do work, but more and more often, I’m like, ‘What if I just sit here and watch Zelda videos?’”

“Yes,” Patel disclosed when asked if she had senioritis. “I don’t want to go to my classes, and I don’t care about my assignments anymore, and I’m not putting as much thought into them.”

“I can’t skip anything, and I can’t afford to miss anything,” Kiley remarked. “But I definitely feel the want to let go of stuff.” 

As the last semester of the school year approaches, South Eugene’s seniors have one more four-month stretch to make their post-high school plans and finish their time in high school on a strong note — despite senioritis.  

Article by Daniel Harms