Waking up feels like a hassle as the days start to drag; it feels like nothing has changed and nothing ever will. Work goes unfinished, choosing instead to focus on the next bright thing that catches the eye. During senior year of high school, this has become so common that it gained the nickname ‘Senioritis’. “You do pretty well up until just before Christmas time. Midway through the year…you’re being distracted between things in the future and the past,” says Kearns High School teacher and SBO Advisor Bob Ostberg. With 37 years of teaching and 17 years of advisory under his belt, he and his fellow teachers have seen many seniors fall into the same trap. “You’re a long way from the excitement of the start of the [next] journey, but you’re also a long way from the finish and so it [the school experience] loses the romance.” 

“The problem is that you kind of slow down; you start to procrastinate more and do what you want to do instead of what you know you should do. Pretty soon you’re behind on things, and then you set yourself up for a panicked finish where the fourth quarter is going to be nothing but stressful,” Ostberg explains. However, struggling with senioritis doesn’t have to be like that. “I always try to remind [my students] that if you want to really enjoy the last quarter of your senior year, you got to bust your butt the third quarter so that you’re set up and you’re caught up on everything; you can afford to take a little break and enjoy the celebrations of the end of highschool.” 

There’s plenty you can do to avoid succumbing to the follies of Senioritis. Mr. Osteberg advises, “Stay in the moment…. One of our sayings is, ‘You will be remembered, how is up to you’.” What people will often remember about you is their last interaction with you. Osteberg continues, “So if you fade in the finish, that’s how you’ll be remembered.” Everyone remembers highschool in their lives, why not make it a memory you can be proud of by putting in all the work you can. Ostberg went on to say, “If they’re thinking about [making smart choices], they have a better chance of making the right choice.” 

Even if it feels tough now, finishing high school is worth it. Former Copper Hills student and current communications major at SUU Case Tippits says, “Finishing strong in high school helps in lots of ways…For people planning to go into college or trade schools this [finishing highschool] is directly important” Tippits continues, “My advice would be to take school day by day. Try not to worry too much or think about the end of the semester because you’ll either stress yourself out or make your senioritis even worse.”

The choices you make now may not matter in five years, but the efforts you make and opportunities you take to stay in the moment and keep progressing make all the difference.