I remember taking my very last final and being so excited to finally be able to, for once, take a breather during the school year.

I’ve been looking forward to being a second semester senior since sophomore year. I always envied the seniors who walked around with funky backpacks and acted so nonchalant about their workload. Seniors made the year seem so stress-free and easy.

I was so excited to start senior year because I always thought that it was going to be a breeze, since there was no more Junior Theme or standardized testing to worry about.

I underestimated the workload and difficulty of senior year.

I hate to break it to all of you but, at least for me, as of now it seems as though being a second semester senior is no different than any other semester of high school.

The only major difference that I notice is that now, on top of my school work, I have to worry about the stress of hearing back from colleges that I applied to.

You would think that the actual process of applying to schools is the hardest part, but at least for me, the waiting is what worries me the most.

Yet, this year has also been the slowest one yet. It feels like there is so much to look forward to at the end of senior year, like graduation and prom, that I’m just in a rush to finally experience them.

The reality is that things don’t always go as planned.  The problem with setting the bar so high is that I have become more susceptible to disappointment.

I want to acknowledge that senioritis does exist. But the workload that seniors receive is not necessarily any less than expected. Senioritis manifests itself in students’ work ethic.

Even though I wish I weren’t in this mindset, I find it hard to keep up with so much demand now that working for grades matters less.

It is hard to motivate myself when I don’t even know if these grades will make a difference in my college admissions process.

I began to ask myself about what causes senioritis. What motivates students to keep up their work ethic even though many of their peers are constantly expressing how little motivation they have?

For those of us who do give in, is it because we’ve worked so long and finally deserve a break?

After looking back on these past few years at New Trier, saying that the course load is demanding is an understatement.  Most of us have experienced all-nighters and mental breakdowns.

But somehow we all manage and make it out. We live up to expectations, and we pull ourselves together for whatever task is at hand.

If you’re going into senior year with the mentality that you’re not going to do much, you need a reality check.

The question is whether or not you are willing to keep pushing yourself while some of your peers begin to dramatically lose their work ethic.

Each and everyone of us has been prepared so well during our high school careers for what is ahead of us.

As difficult as it may be, the most important advice that I could give is to remember how hard you worked to be where you are.  Do you really want all of that to go to waste?