By Brannigan Watson | Reporter

Senioritis is a term used to describe a lack of motivation or work ethic in school, typically in seniors. According to Huffington Post, this academic epidemic tends to happen after students finish college applications or get accepted to a post-secondary school.

Senior Michaela Spinazze describes it as a natural feeling that comes with being a senior.

“It is just the feeling of pointlessness that comes with senior year,” Spinazze said.

Senior Ryan King said the lack of work ethic with senioritis began in fifth grade when he didn’t want to go to school.

“Ever since fifth grade I’d wake up and regret going to school but now, I makeup excuses and tell myself it’s fine to not go some days. High school goes by extremely quick and when you get to your last year, let alone last semester, you get really anxious,” King said.

Senior Yuritizi Avila-Robledo said that her last semester of high school is leading her grades to a downward spiral and they aren’t improving.

“My grades are dropping and I say ‘I’ll try better next test’, but I continue to score low,” Avila-Robledo said.

According to Steinhardt Counseling at New York University, senioritis is a light-hearted topic with serious consequences. They conducted a survey and when asked to agree, strongly agree, disagree or strongly disagree to the prompt “My academic effort will most likely decline in the second semester of my senior year” almost 70 percent of seniors surveyed agreed or strongly agreed.

Senior Josh Lex said after being accepted to his top colleges, his main concern is passing by his classes by doing the bare minimum to complete his senior year the B’s and C’s.

“Now that I’ve been accepted into my top choice for college, I’m making sure my grades don’t tank,” Lex said.

Graduation is just over two a month away this is also swaying seniors’ amount of effort and carelessness to their classes, homework, and grades. Senior Jenna Ruiz said this is her main cause for senioritis.

“Since we are so close to graduation, I feel like grades and homework don’t necessarily matter at this point,” Ruiz said.

Senior Sierra Howell said that even though she’s mentally and emotionally done with school, she’s not ready for the responsibilities that come with leaving.

“I’m not ready to be on my own,” Howell said.

King suggests that at this point that students suffering from senioritis need to realize what they’re doing and get focused for the final leg of their high school career.

“It makes [school] really confusing, you just kind of go down a hole and hopefully you see that you’ve got to fix something and start getting your head in the game,” King said.