Another epidemic has hit.  And, unfortunately, there’s no vaccine available.  It’s senioritis season at Morton East.

After three years of consistently getting your butt to school,  you can become quite exhausted by the same routine and schedule everyday. Maybe it’s the thought you’re about to get the heck out of here or genuine exhaustion of grinding since freshman year, regardless, senioritis affects many kids their last year of high school.

May 19 is coming upon us fast. To help you get through your last year of high school here’s some tips to keep on you the track.

Number 1.   Accept the feelings. It’s hard to wake up in the morning knowing you’ve already done all the work you have, but you’re not done ye,  champ, get to class.

Number 2.   Set academic goals for yourself. It is coming to an end but finish strong, if not for college but yourself.  Even if college is not the main goal it’s always good to have a backup, and a strong senior year is just that.

Number 3.   Go make some money, as you’re reaching your adult years, you’re going to be doing a lot of working, and being an adult is not cheap.  One way to deal with senioritiis is to busy yourself with something productive.  Find a part-time job and get to work, man.

Dropping out is not foreign to seniors, but it should never be an option. A statistic by the Illinois State Board of Education shows that Cook County produces 53,667 senior a year and 4,457 end up dropping out.

We surveyed 50 students of Morton East to gauge whether they’ve been infected with the senioritis virus.  We asked about attendance; 24 students have missed over 15 days of school, 5 have missed around 10 days, and 17 have missed 5 days.  We also surveyed students if they have lost a lack of motivation;  88% of students said they lack motivation and 12% feel they don’t.

“This senior year has been really stressful because it was the year we came back in person after spending a whole year in remote, some of us have struggled to stay in school or even motivated to go to school. It was hard to adapt back to the schedule that we had before the pandemic,” Diego Quinones stated on the struggle of change that came with the return of students.

Senioritis is tough as it is but that’s not the only reason kids feel unmotivated. The lack of in person attendance during the pandemic have gotten students accustomed to being at home. The reset was a bit difficult for seniors to commit to school again.

“Doing good without going to school was easy for me during the pandemic, so I fell into that mindset, but I’ve been getting back on track,” Anthony Alvarez said on having to adapt again to school.

Getting on a consistent pattern has been tough for students, but how can we change that? I asked a student that same question and this is what he had to say.

“Waking up at a certain time every morning to have time to get my thing ready gives me motivation to keep working, having goals for yourself that I complete make me fee like the effort I put in pays off,” Jeremiah Guzman said on how he’s been getting back on track and avoiding senioritis.