Senioritis can be looked at as both the best and the worst part of senior year. Urban Dictionary defines senioritis as “a crippling disease that strikes high school seniors. Symptoms include: laziness, an over-excessive wearing of track pants, old athletic shirts, sweatpants, athletic shorts, and sweatshirts. Also features a lack of studying, repeated absences, and a generally dismissive attitude. The only known cure is a phenomenon known as Graduation.”

I have taken a look into what it means to have senioritis to our very own South seniors. Joe Boettcher ’18 has a different approach to senioritis. He says his mindset is broken up into three pieces.

“25% is school and keeping my GPA  stable, 45% is making this year the best year of my life, and 30% is playing fortnite,” Boettcher said.

After seeing this huge chunk of time being taken up by playing a video game, I had to know if this affected his grades in any way. Boettcher responded in a way that I’m sure will make his parents happy; by saying that his change in mood after being accepted to college has only made his grades better.

He believes he has mastered the “art” of senioritis.

 “At this point in the game I consider myself a genius,” Boettcher said.

Even though he is a self proclaimed master I still had to ask him the important question: does he think slacking off and having senioritis is ok? To that question he answered with another question, “ Do I think it’s okay to slack off my senior year? Ask yourself that question. If you said no then you aren’t living your life to the fullest.” And to that I said ‘dilly dilly.

Boettcher has had no serious problems with senioritis besides the normal “sick” days here and there he said. Also , he explained that he hasn’t had any problems with his teachers and for the most part his mental checkouts rarely affect his grades.

I’m no doctor but I would say Boettcher’s case of senioritis has been caught in the early stages and doesn’t seem like it will be affecting his day to day life.

On the other hand, Maddie Kolomjec ’18 hasn’t been to a full week of school all year. She explained that because she has gotten into her top school, she has been ready to move on, causing the a lethargic and lazy attitude to manifest in her.

Kolomjec said she has “worked so hard to get to this point and to get into the college I wanted. And now that I have, I don’t have as much motivation to try as hard.”

On the contrary to what Boettcher stated, Kolomjec said she has seen a negative affect in her grades and says it is disappointing to her because she knows she can do better.

Like the Urban Dictionary definition states, the symptoms include laziness and that is exactly the case for Kolomjec.

“It’s getting harder and harder to get up and go to school the whole day. I haven’t been to a whole week of school this entire year, and I’m not necessarily sorry about it,” Kolomjec said.

Even though Kolomjec says teachers are aware of the senioritis plaguing the senior class this time of year, they understand that we aren’t as motivated as we used to be.

English teacher Ericka Henk somewhat agreed with Kolomjec’s assumption on how teachers might feel about senioritis.

Henk said, “I wouldn’t say I’m necessarily angry, but the hallways are definitely louder, things might be a little more casual, it may be detrimental to the learning environment but I wouldn’t say I’m angry.”

Henk believes instead of becoming angry or frustrated, she would find ways to keep the seniors on task.

Henk says senioritis is inevitable, so she doesn’t get angry when people have it. She even she admitted to having senioritis in her high school days.

So whether you have or plan on getting senioritis, remember to be respectful to your teachers, but also enjoy the end of your senior year. It only comes once, and after that we have to enter the real world.

As Joseph Boettcher once said, have a “sick” day every once in a while and play some fortnite; you deserve it.