Around this time of year seniors are usually struck with a feeling of being ready to leave high school. This is called senioritis. a supposed affliction of students in their final year of high school or college, characterized by a decline in motivation or performance.

Urban Dictionary’s top definition of senioritis is “a crippling disease that strikes high school seniors.” Symptoms include: laziness and an excessive wearing of track pants, old athletic shirts, sweatpants, athletic shorts, and sweatshirts. It also features a lack of studying, repeated absences, and a generally dismissive attitude. The only known cure is a phenomenon known as Graduation.

Many of us as juniors and even sophomores complain that we have senioritis.  

Junior Margaret Ade said “ I’m pretty sure I have senioritis as a junior, I’m getting very lazy and it’s clear that I worked harder as an underclassman than I am now.” Although as juniors you may feel like you have senioritis, it is literally impossible for you to have senioritis unless you are a senior.

Senior Reginald Anderson said, “When I wasn’t a senior I thought I had senioritis. I was wrong. It is a completely different feeling than what I thought it was in the other grade levels.” He then goes on too describe senioritis as “a whole new feeling of tiredness, you’re just done. And when you know you got everything done to graduate you stop caring a little but you still care because it’s your grade.”

And while there are juniors that think they are experiencing senioritis, there are others that don’t think they can experience it because they aren’t seniors yet.  Junior Jahvon Gillies said “ I believe I know what senioritis is and I’m pretty sure I haven’t experienced it because I’m not a senior yet.” He also said that he is “excited” to become a senior, but “not looking forward to experiencing senioritis.”

So what can we do to beat the senioritis bug? Here are a few tips to deal with it.

Do not slack off too much. Colleges can reconsider admissions if your GPA drops, so if you are going to slack don’t let your GPA fall too far. If you’re going to skip an assignment, skip something with a low percentage of your grade; for example, skip homework but study for that test.

Feeling sluggish? Sleep. Make a checklist, set goals and make sure you get it all done. Make sure to also schedule a nap or two in once most or all of your work is done. Or, better yet, go to sleep a little earlier; three am is not a good bedtime.

Don’t put too much effort in how you dress everyday. It’s okay to wrap your hair or throw it in a ponytail, and it is perfectly okay to wear sweats to school. Who are we trying to impress?

And lastly, YOLO: have fun. Try something new. Join a new team or club. Ask that person to prom. Cut or dye your hair. Remember, these are the only times we get to be this young. We are only high school seniors once so don’t let the senioritis bug bite you and make you miss out on making memories.