A senior who is experiencing a severe amount of laziness and lack of desire to finish any homework assignments has come down with a bad case of senioritis. This term is commonly used as an excuse by seniors to allow them to forget about the five page essay that is due on Friday, and instead decide to wait until Thursday night to write a sloppy paper using Courier New font to barely reach the page requirement.

Twelfth graders are usually expected to have a decline in their work ethic and for their laziness to drastically increase. Once we reach our senior year, we have been slaves to the education system for nearly our whole life, so I can understand why many students give themselves a break their last year of high school. However, there are some expectations that have been told to underclassmen.  Some characteristics of a “typical” senior include a lack of homework completion, increased stress levels due to college and scholarship applications and more free time. Out of all of the stereotypes I have mentioned, I have only fallen under one of these my senior year.

I am guilty of having a very poor work ethic, however I have been my entire life. I remember in second grade I had a huge book project that I had known about for months. But being the procrastinator that I am, I waited until the very last day to do it. I stayed up with my mom till almost midnight trying to glue the Magic Treehouse characters onto popsicle sticks. For every project, every essay and every homework assignment that has ever been assigned to me, I have scrambled to do it the night, or sometimes even  the block, before it is due. I didn’t even start this column until the day before my deadline. So, I have not diagnosed myself with senioritis because my consistent amount of procrastination and laziness for the past twelve years has proved to me that my work ethic this year is not due to the disease that has been spread throughout the senior class, but because I have always been and always will be unmotivated to do my work.

However, senioritis is not a complete myth. Some seniors have taken a direct hit from the negative effects of only having one year left. I have noticed that those who have taken color-coded notes and who finished assignments days before they were due throughout their school career have gotten any last efforts sucked out of them once they reach the end.

I have never understood senioritis, however, because I was always told as an underclassman that once I entered my last year of high school, all of my homework disappeared. This is the biggest myth of them all. I decided to take easier classes this year, only allowing myself to sign up for two AP classes, so I could really give myself a break. Or so I thought.

The first semester of my senior year was overloaded with homework, essays and book readings. I happen to be one of the many unfortunate souls that has been lied to for years about how much of a breeze senior year would be when it came to homework. This year, I have had more homework than ever before. Although I’m not taking as many AP classes, I still have spent more hours at school and at home working on assignments and extra-curriculars.

So, underclassmen, keep your expectations clear for your senior year. The myths that you have been told may not come true. You might be slumped with homework and never having to care about college, but it also might be the opposite. No matter the case, find a healthy balance of your workload, college decisions and making the most of your last days of high school.