Seniors share ‘senior slump’ experiences

Alex Torres and Lucy Hughes

William Paik "[Senioritis] hit me like a sack of bricks. I’ve adopted the philosophy that nothing is worth staying up past one or 12, and that’s helpful because I'm getting more sleep. If I have to turn in something late, I’m more able to turn things in late. Before I would do work, now I’m not doing as much, I’m not hard working. That’s what senior slump is."
William Paik
“[Senioritis] hit me like a sack of bricks. I’ve adopted the philosophy that nothing is worth staying up past one or 12, and that’s helpful because I’m getting more sleep. If I have to turn in something late, I’m more able to turn things in late. Before I would do work, now I’m not doing as much; I’m not hardworking. That’s what senior slump is.”
Paul Berkson "[Senior year] has been good. It’s definitely gotten easier after the second semester started. It’s been affecting me in the way that if I do bad on a test, I’m not really sad anymore or disappointed in myself. It’s more, ‘Oh well.’ I’m still sort of giving the same effort, but the results are not as good. I don’t think I'm working less hard. I’m just not disappointed when the results aren't something that I hoped."
Paul Berkson
“[Senior year] has been good. It’s definitely gotten easier after the second semester started. It’s been affecting me in the way that if I do bad on a test, I’m not really sad anymore or disappointed in myself. It’s more, ‘Oh well.’ I’m still sort of giving the same effort, but the results are not as good. I don’t think I’m working less hard. I’m just not disappointed when the results aren’t something that I hoped.”
Tori Varnau “[Senior year] has been really fun. It’s just been a really great year. It’s really chill, and you don’t really feel pressured by other people in the school as much because you’re kind of the top dog. I think in the past month I’ve definitely gotten a lot more senioritis. I’m starting to hang out with friends more often, going on runs instead of doing homework sometimes and studying isn’t really a thing anymore. It’s really terrible. My grades have slipped a little bit, but I think this past week, I’ve been trying to keep it up a little bit more. A lot of my friends and I sometimes will just be like, ‘We don’t really want to go to school,’ so we’ll just call in, we’re 18, and just skip the first few blocks of class. It’s okay because then you can make up work, and I’ve been meeting with a lot of teachers to get back on track again. I’m in a lot of AP [classes], so you definitely have to keep up the work, but when you’re not super motivated, it’s kind of tough.”
Tori Varnau
“[Senior year] has been really fun. It’s just been a really great year. It’s really chill, and you don’t really feel pressured by other people in the school as much because you’re kind of the top dog. I think in the past month I’ve definitely gotten a lot more senioritis. I’m starting to hang out with friends more often, going on runs instead of doing homework sometimes and studying isn’t really a thing anymore. It’s really terrible. My grades have slipped a little bit, but I think this past week, I’ve been trying to keep it up a little bit more. A lot of my friends and I sometimes will just be like, ‘We don’t really want to go to school,’ so we’ll just call in; we’re 18 and just skip the first few blocks of class. It’s okay because then you can make up work, and I’ve been meeting with a lot of teachers to get back on track again. I’m in a lot of AP [classes], so you definitely have to keep up the work, but when you’re not super motivated, it’s kind of tough.”
Mandy Judah "[Senior year] has been a good year. I know everyone says when you get to senior year it passes by really quickly, and I didn’t really believe them, but it really has. When I did sports, I was like ‘oh, I have three more years as a freshman, then two more years, then one more year’ and now this is it. I’m sure compared to anybody else [my situation] is not a senior slump. I applied to a lot of my schools early, so I heard back in December but nothing has really changed. I’m waiting until after AP [exams] to slump. But I think after that I’m just not going to care. I think I’m stressed out about it less but I still do the same amount of work which is nice. I feel like I have some perspective because junior year was all focused on ‘okay, if I don’t do this, my future's really going to change’. [Now,] I just have a lot more perspective."
Mandy Judah
“[Senior year] has been a good year. I know everyone says when you get to senior year it passes by really quickly, and I didn’t really believe them, but it really has. When I did sports, I was like, ‘Oh, I have three more years as a freshman, then two more years, then one more year,’ and now this is it. I’m sure compared to anybody else [my situation] is not a senior slump. I applied to a lot of my schools early, so I heard back in December, but nothing has really changed. I’m waiting until after AP [exams] to slump, but I think after that I’m just not gonna care. I think I’m stressed out about it less, but I still do the same amount of work, which is nice. I feel like I have some perspective because junior year was all focused on, ‘Okay, if I don’t do this, my future, everything’s really going to change.’ [Now,] I just have a lot more perspective.”