The holidays are over, and you have successfully managed to forget every part of school for the past two weeks. As a senior class, coming back to school for the last semester of high school is always a struggle. By the second semester all seniors are, for the most part, done applying to colleges and have started to hear back from them.

When asked about the infamous “illness,” most teachers said that they knew it was coming when school started back up again. Dean Adams said the reason why she thinks senioritis hits so hard is because “students seem to be tired of high school and are already looking forward to something bigger.” The “something bigger” she refers to is graduation, summer, and freshman year of college. Being here for three and a half years has put all of the upperclassmen in a sort of daze.

History teacher Mr. Hamlett taught high school seniors in Chicago before coming to Brebeuf and noticed the similarities between the two schools. “It’s a natural occurrence,” said Hamlett, noting that it always happens. Along with Dean Adams, Mr. Hamlett tries to combat the senioritis in his classes. He tries to do more group activities second semester rather than long lectures. Similarly, Dean Adams thinks that doing more fun things second semester like senior week and prom will help ward off this ailment.

Getting a perspective from someone who has gone through senior year at Brebeuf is important too. Math teacher Ms. Keele ‘05 remembers her last year at Brebeuf. She said, “I always did what I was supposed to do, but I know it’s hard to stay motivated.” That difficulty always hits especially hard when there are only a few months left of school when most seniors have already heard back from the schools they applied to.

Senior Rachel Efroymson said that she is actually more motivated this semester than she was last semester. She said first semester was tough because she was focused on college applications and watching Grey’s Anatomy. Second semester is better for her because she has gotten a confidence boost from being accepted into her top schools already. Austin Wodock ‘16 agrees that this semester has been much easier than first semester of his senior year. He says a good tip is to work hard first and second semester because colleges see both term grades.

College counselor Mrs. Newman agrees that staying focused and motivated is extremely important because the college counseling office would hate for a college to rescind a student’s acceptance into their school. Rogeno Malone ‘16 says that he stays focused because he wants to maintain a good cumulative GPA.

While the school year is winding down for the whole school, seniors seem to have it harder than everyone else. After the stress of applying to colleges and, for the most part, hearing back from them, most seniors take their last semester of high school to relax before summer. There is nothing wrong with looking forward to the exciting new things that come after high school, but seniors may need to remember that there are a few months left in the school year and to finish their last year at Brebeuf in a positive way.