It’s a plague that travels through the halls Huntley, affecting students, both dedicated and less than so. It destroys kids. Each year it escalates around the end of April. It’s a pandemic. It affects millions of kids in schools across the nation, rendering them completely unable to study, do homework, or even pay attention in class. No one is safe. It’s Senioritis.

Overview

The condition is named after the general feeling of not caring that infects high school students at the end of their senior years. It’s not uncommon for juniors to catch a mild case of senioritis at the end of the year as well, but the disease impacts seniors both in greater numbers and greater severity.

Diagnosis

It is often difficult to differentiate between a legitimate case of Senioritis and an average high schooler’s apathy, so it is important to evaluate the context. If the patient is late in his or her high school career and showing the symptoms, it is more than likely that he or she had contracted the disease. Those most susceptible are soon-to-be graduates who have already cashed in their housing deposits for their university. At this point, having already secured their places for the new stage in their lives, they see little purpose in the end of the last stage. Seniors can be affected at the beginning of the school year as well. For juniors, the symptoms generally recede over long weekends and breaks, but they remain persistent in seniors.

Common symptoms include:

-Extreme laziness

-Inability to focus

-lack of concern for academic or extracurricular performance

-excessive complaining

-ditching school

-rebellious behavior with no regard for consequences

-slipping grades

While Senioritis is not known to be fatal, the effects can be devastating. Failing to fulfill academic responsibilities at the end of the school year can lead to, in extreme cases, revoked admission. However, the consequences are generally more mild, leading to peeved parents, either due to poor academic performance or overall negativity.

Treatment

While there is no known cure for Senioritis, many affected find it beneficial to take a day off of school to relax. However, this is risky, because motivation could further decline, leading to more days off and mounds of missed school work. The best way to live with Senioritis is to help the patient evaluate his or her life goals. For some students, the realization that they need to work hard for their specific dreams will rejuvenate their efforts. It is especially important to emphasize that they have ran nearly the entire marathon, and to slow to a walk a hundred yards from the finish is foolishness. Show sympathy. The student is miserable at school and scolding about poor performance will do little else, other than further irritate and demotivate him or her.

Prevention

Senioritis is difficult to prevent because it can affect any student at any time of the school year. Studious kids and slackers alike can catch a case. There are currently no vaccinations available. It should also be noted that Senioritis is extremely contagious, and if your friends are infected, it is best to avoid doing any group projects with them. Once that first assignment slips, the carelessness can easily avalanche into a massive grade-destroying wrath.