According to Merriam-Webster, senioritis is “an ebbing of motivation and effort by school seniors as evidenced by tardiness, absences, and lower grades.” For a few Clover Hill seniors, senioritis is getting real, or is it? 

Senior Anet Felix shared her experience of feeling the effects of senioritis before the first semester is over.

“Especially now that (college) application season is over, and I have gotten accepted into my top schools, I have been undergoing a serious case of senioritis and have currently lost all motivation to complete the simplest of assignments,” Felix said. 

This lack of motivation is common amongst seniors for many reasons. While there is the reality of the ongoing pandemic, seniors across the country can not help but feel some disappointment for the way that their senior year is going. Clover Hill seniors are no exception to this, and it causes most of them to have to face the reality of what their senior experience actually will be versus what they thought it would be before. 

Senior Esme Atkinson, a captain of the Clover Hill women’s basketball team, expressed how this year compared to what she had anticipated. 

“I’d thought I would get to have prom, go to football games and have a normal basketball season with a great senior night, but I won’t be able to get many of those things,” Atkinson said. 

This year’s graduating class has a very different senior year than the classes that came before them. There is so much that virtual school takes away from the learning experience and environment such as not being in the building, lacking connections with teachers, and failing to create bonds with their peers. 

Senior Ranvir Singh mentioned that his senioritis is a lot worse than he thought it would be, due to the virtual learning environment. 

“I never thought senioritis would affect me much, but because we are learning from home this year, it is a lot worse, and I am a lot more lazy now,” Singh said. 

However, one part of senior year that has been greatly affected by the coronavirus is the college application process. For many, this was a stress reliever because this was the time when most schools shut down in the spring of 2020, but not every process has been the easiest to do from home without the hands-on help from the school counseling department. 

Senior Chester ‘Cokie’ Robinson touched base on the downsides of senioritis impacting his own college application experience. 

“My college applications themselves weren’t impacted by senioritis at all, but remembering and wanting to apply for scholarships has really been a struggle for me this year,” Robinson said. 

Felix shared a tip for future cavaliers that will one day be in her shoes and having to deal with the dilemmas that come along with living with senioritis. 

“Think about how close you are, you can see the finish line, and you can reach it. You will do it,” Felix said. 

As well as Felix, Atkinson gave a tip to the underclassmen that one day they will have to create schedules for themselves for their last year of high school.