As senior Sam Gulliver sits in the library with his hand pressing against his head, he stares at all of his work, contemplating what to even begin with.  This workload consists of assignments from KAMSC, Norrix, and incredibly stressful college applications.
“It’s easier to push classes aside and focus on [college] applications” said Gulliver
With all the responsibilities given to seniors, students are stressing over their future more than ever. Even for dedicated students like Gulliver, who has goals of attending either Kalamazoo College, Western, or University of Michigan, maintaining a well-balanced life becomes difficult.
“It’s hard to be motivated” said Gulliver.
“With juggling regular school, a job, and some kind of social life, one of those aspects gets undermined and it becomes hard to handle it all”
For students applying for early admission, this first trimester is the most crucial and overwhelming part of their entire high school career. Many of these students are beginning to see coming to school as just a place to collect work instead of learning. Unfortunately, meeting the early admission deadline means prioritizing college applications over current school work.
“It would be really helpful if senior level writing classes had part of the curriculum help balance out our busy schedules by letting us work on college essays” said Gulliver, who is not alone in believing seniors should be given extra assistance in this stressful time.
Senior Katryn Walsh, who is applying to University of Michigan, Michigan State University, New York University and Grand Valley State University, is feeling the pressure of the future and wishing there was an easier way to get it all done.
“I think that counselors should look into a free period for seniors who are busy and need more time to work with the counselors, themselves.” said Walsh
It is not abnormal here at Loy Norrix to feel frustrated with scheduling meetings with the counselors. However, due to large amount of responsibilities given to the counselors and the lack of time available to work with students individually, seniors who need advice on applying to college, need recommendations and transcripts, are not receiving this help in a timely fashion. When time is available, these busy students’ only option is to be taken out of class, which can cause seniors to fall behind.  With the push for seniors to become more independent in their learning, complete exhaustion can take over  and the feelings of “Senioritis” can kick in.
“I hate waking up in the morning. If I’m late to school I shouldn’t get a detention. I’ve been going to school for so long, I shouldn’t get in trouble for working all night and being so tired that I can barely function the next day” said Walsh.
“I get probably four hours of sleep and I don’t have much time for anything else with volleyball, work on the weekends, and AP classes.”
Although seniors are learning the values of time management and persistence, even at the toughest times, the pressure to succeed without error is next to impossible, due to the lack of time given and the rising stress levels of these students. With less than sufficient support for this demanding time by the school system, seniors will have to push themselves and schedule their mental breakdown to occur after all college applications are in.