With the arrival of the second semester of the 2013-2014 school year, the idea of “Senioritis” setting in has grown in popularity and many wonder if the alleged infection is as deadly as rumors portray. First off, lets cover the top five rumored “symptoms” of Senioritis.

1. Sleeping during classes: The average Senioritis-infected senior spends most of his/her school day with their head on top of folded arms or a hard desktop.

2. Not caring about being late to school: When you have Senioritis, you experience a decrease in speed during the morning hours when getting ready for school.

3. Lack of attention span during classes: Senioritis causes its victim to see illusions, this is commonly known as daydreaming and is deadly to participation grades.

4. Spending little or no time on homework: A senior experiencing the effects of Senioritis loses the feeling of necessity for completing homework due to already being accepted to a college.

5. Plummeting grade point averages/ Not caring about grades: This coincides with symptoms 3 and 4. The infected senior no longer sees any value in high school work.

When seniors are accepted to colleges, we see the aforementioned symptoms spike among the class. Many seniors are on the verge of entering unfamiliar territory and the anticipation for college is one of the main reasons seniors contract Senioritis.

“I know for a fact I have Senioritis,” John Chandler Spencer (12,MST) said, “You know you have Senioritis when you don’t even want to explain why you have it.”

Spencer often finds himself on his phone during the school day. With the Cell Phone Use Policy in effect, it isn’t uncommon to see the average student using their phone in school. However, most students aren’t using their phones for educational purposes and the phones serve more as a distraction to the learning experience. This distraction causes students to lose interest in the class and not pay attention to the teacher. While teachers have the authority to tell students to stop using their phones, many do not and seniors take advantage of  that opportunity to distract themselves.

Another symptom of Senioritis is the lack of drive by seniors to do their homework. “Ever since winter break ended, I ask myself every night, ‘Should I do my homework? OR NAAAHHHH?!'” said, Ezekiel Smith (12,HSU). Normally, not doing homework would cause a student’s GPA to drop, worrying them. However, after being accepted into college and scholarships having already been awarded, the need for most seniors to uphold grades is unnecessary.

August Wilcox (12,HSU) said, “I still do my work but I think I have a little of it [Senioritis] when I’m sitting in a class sometimes and wonder what I’m doing there.”

Senioritis seems to be very real and exists amongst the majority of the senior class. If you have experienced one or more of the symptoms, you may already have Senioritis.