By: Myra K.
Senioritis n. a crippling disease that strikes high school seniors. Symptoms include: laziness, an over-excessive donning of track pants, old athletic shirts, sweatpants, athletic shorts, and sweatshirts. This condition also features a lack of academic motivation, manifested in a low drive to study, repeated absences from school, and a generally dismissive attitude. The only known cure is a phenomenon known as the following: Graduation.We are just a short time away from this miraculous remedy. Senioritis has definitely struck Calgary's Western Canada High School. Myself included.
When your high school career is drawing to a close, and you begin to catch a glimpse of the light at the back of the thirteen year-long tunnel (I promise, it’s there!), many high school students begin to fall behind in school. The thought of leaving this institution, patron of fifteen-page essays, multiple biology labs, and two page math formulas, it is quite exciting, to say the least.
Once you receive your first university acceptance, you’re ready. The grades you have worked so hard for have finally paid off. You’re set up for a bright and prosperous future (unless you’re pursuing an Arts degree, like I am; perhaps you science people are on to something) ...or so you think.
But, unfortunately, you still have to go to school. Now, Sparknotes suddenly becomes your best buddy, and with it, last-minute studying (at this point, glancing at some helpful reading guide a full six-hour night before, and not five minutes prior, to class can be called true effort) and Tim Hortons or Starbucks in the morning have become a complete necessity, the lack of which would cause certain death. Sure, you might not be that tired from yesterday’s workload, because, who are we kidding? You stayed up late catching up on the third season of The Walking Dead and New Girl. But even so, the taste of chocolate-diluted caffeine just sounds so... appealing. You might be five minutes late to class... but skipping the morning announcements (who listens to them anyway?) all seems soo worth it when you could have a warm and delicious coffee in your hand.
So, how can we cure this crippling disease that has become a pandemic among twelfth-grade students? According to Urban Dictionary, the phenomenon of graduation is the only known remedy.
My advice? Plan beforehand. Visit the websites of those universities in which you’re interested and figure out the minimum average requirement needed to retain your offer of admission. Aim to maintain an average that’s at least five percent above your favourite institution’s cutoff. This will remind you that keeping this average is allowing you to achieve your own future goals. This way, you can focus just enough on school so that you maintain your admission offers while still enjoying your time left at Western. After all, who are we kidding? Sometimes you just need to close that book, turn on the TV, and enjoy some good, late-night zombie killing. Hold on, because there are only a few more days of high school left, Class of 2013!
