As the school year is coming to an end and scholars are getting ready for the summer, juniors need a reminder to stay on their academic grind as they enter their final year of high school.

Dear Class of 2025,

As you are finishing up the school year, the feeling of relief sets in when it seems like it's all done and you think to yourself, “It's finally summer”. You’ll rejoice in the feeling of completion and will start to think that your senior year will be a walk in the park or a piece of cake. As you are exhausted and drained from the rigorous junior year and the never-ending tests, your immune system will be left unprotected and so you’re most vulnerable to catching the godforsaken Senioritis! A loss of motivation and effort by school seniors as evidenced by an increase in tardiness, absences, and lower grades - according to America’s Most-Trusted Dictionary, Merriam-Webster. 

You and most of your peers entering your senior school year believe you can graduate doing the bare minimum to get by, but what you don’t know is that colleges and universities still look at “both a mid-year grade report and a final (year-end) transcript and they expect students to maintain previous levels of academic success” (CollegeBoard). So just imagine working hard in all your previous years and the one year you want to slack off on can be the reason why your admission to a top school gets denied. Senioritis is a common syndrome among students in the final year of high school and should be combated to maintain academic success. So how do you prevent yourself from catching it?

Basketball and Track & Field athlete, Steven Navor, who is currently a senior, graduating this year, suggests that in your final stretch of high school, you should “just YOLO (You Only Live Once) it. It sounds corny, but what I really mean is to make your last school year memorable and do what you want to do because you only get one high school experience, one prom, and one senior year, so do what makes you happy. However, make sure to get what you need to get done”. 

Not only should the students take matters into their own hands to prevent the known affliction of “Senioritis”, but your teachers should also encourage you to stay active and focus on maintaining your academic levels throughout your senior year. According to the non-profit organization that clears a path for all students to own their future, CollegeBoard, suggests tips that challenge seniors to “maintain a challenging course load,” which means to take difficult courses like AP classes, “enjoy their senior experience—responsibly,” encouraging you to enjoy your last year of school but also have fun in participating in extracurriculars, “commit to an internship or career-focused job,” helping you make decisions about your education and career goals, “keep a calendar of their activities and deadlines,” and, “avoid obsessing over the admission process”.

In your senior year there has to be balance and responsibility to make the right choices and preserve your spot in college, so stay excited about your education in your last year. It’s okay to have fun in your final year, but you should still ensure that you’re not taken off course from your goals and lose the progress you’ve made throughout your high school life.

Sincerely, 

One of You