Student burnout isn’t something new, and we’ve heard it called by many names: senioritis, the sophomore slump, even freshman fatigue, but it all means the same thing. It’s common sense that having developing teens wake up before dawn for months on end will have an effect on energy levels and academic stamina, but the structure of the school year also hits teachers’ productivity and might contribute to their decline in energy.

Sandra McCue, an English teacher at South, finds that it’s not necessarily the repetition of a school day that affects her energy, but rather the environment of her classroom.

“If it’s warm in the fall or warm in the spring, that can really make me exhausted by the end of the day,” McCue said. “I’ve noticed that years that start out with high temperatures in the fall tend to be years when I struggle the most.”

Wendy Jerome, a new Science teacher at South, finds that the time of year generally affects her energy as well, but regardless of the circumstances, she tries not to let her energy levels affect her classes and gives back the energy she’s given.

“I get my drive from the kids,” Jerome said. “So if they seem super engaged, excited and happy to be there, it’s contagious and fires me up too.”

However, shortly after the pandemic, when all schoolwork was digitalized and teachers were regaining face-to-face contact with their students, the level of engagement and energy given by students had depleted. One thing became clear to teachers like McCue, her classes needed more structure to be productive.

“The older students are, the more self-motivated they are,” McCue said. “So for the most part, if you give [upperclassmen] a task to complete during the hour, they will finish it, but the younger students need more reminders and checking in to make sure they stay on target.”

With experience and learning studying techniques, students, like Madi Nyenhuis ’26, will take on the responsibility of their school day, until, like their teacher counterparts, they run out of steam as the last few weeks of school approach.

“I think what plays into [senioritis] the most for me is just the fact that I’m ready to move on and go to college, but I can’t yet,” Nyenhuis said. “ Honestly, I normally can’t tell when my teachers are feeling that way, so that really helps me stay motivated.”

Throughout the year, it’s important for faculty and students to have a healthy balance of academics and a social life to maintain motivation and positive energy.

“I set up things outside of school to look forward to,” McCue said. “When I know I have something special like that coming up, it makes [the day] feel like less of a drag.”