By Miki Patel

The time of life every high school student has been waiting for: senior year. Students believe that senior year is the easiest year of high school and that they can easily breeze through the year. Students feel that senior year does not matter much, but the facts are that senior year is just as important as the first three years of high school.

After three years of working hard, students are tempted to loosen up and relax after the college applications are submitted, which influences senioritis in the process. Senioritis is the temptation to slack off during the last year of high school.

The symptoms of senioritis include laziness, an urge to sleep, deficiency of studying, absences and other dismissive behavior. The only way to cure senioritis is through graduation, but preventing senioritis is even better.

Some tips to avoid senioritis are to create a schedule of everything that needs to be accomplished, stay involved with activities in and out of school, and challenge yourself physically and mentally.

• Most students at Loy Norrix High School are already on track for graduation, needing anywhere from one to two more credits. The requirement to graduate at Loy Norrix is at least 26 credits.

Senior Yahayra Martinez is anxious to walk across the stage at this point even though there is still half a year left of this school year.

“I am very ready to graduate. I think I only need a few more credits to graduate,” said Martinez.

The point of high school is to prepare yourself for college level coursework. Most students do not understand the point of continuing to work hard in high school after getting their official college admissions letter. Students feel that college admissions is the reason they have been working so hard during the first three years of high school but during senior year, they just do not care after they have been accepted to their school of choice.

What students do not know is that senior year is essential to keeping a college admissions decision. Colleges do not want to see students whose grades are dropping during senior year but rather that the grades are gradually increasing and that the students are motivated to succeed no matter what the circumstances are.

According to New York Times, “the University of Michigan sent out three different letters [in 2007] to its incoming freshmen with poor final grades: 62 issuing gentle warnings, 180 requesting an explanation, and 9 revoking admission.”

Sometimes, admissions are revoked as late as August. These students, that would normally be freshmen, are left without a college to go to when the new school year begins. These students could already have attended college orientation, selected classes and met their roommates for the upcoming school year, but now they are stuck at home with no college to go to in August just because they made the mistake of letting senioritis affect them.