Covid is spreading all across the country and many students at NC have already become infected and recovered from the virus. However, it is possible that another disease is spreading through the halls of NC: senioritis. Seniors often use the excuse of having “senioritis” for becoming lazier and less productive during their last year of high school. 

Elaina Stirling (12) said she feels like she has had senioritis since the end of her junior year. This timing coincided with the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic. Brynley LaChance (12) agreed that she also started to feel senioritis after the abrupt transition to online school. When asked if she thinks her senioritis will get worse or better as the year goes on, LaChance said, “Worse. The more things you have to do, the worse it gets.” LaChance also commented, “I just want to be graduated.” 

A direct indicator of senioritis can be seniors letting their grades slip. One reason for students letting their grades slip is that some seniors just simply stop showing up. With students turning 18, some abuse the power of being able to excuse themselves from school. This really depends on the student though as Stirling said that she never excuses herself from school without a valid excuse because she doesn’t want to get in trouble with her parents. Colter Helm (12) admitted that he excuses himself from Mustang Connections often, while Taylor Choal (12) said she doesn’t even have a MC. 

During the first semester most seniors were able to keep their grades up. According to NCHS’s registrar Janelle Andrade, “Our seniors have a total of 1871 grades among them. There are 174 F grades and 1697 D or above – so that comes out to 0.092% of seniors failing classes.”

 Another sign of senioritis is students opting to take fewer classes. The requirement for participation in extracurricular activities is 5 classes. With 387 seniors and 1871 grades, seniors took an average of 4.8 classes. While this seems to indicate that seniors are taking very few classes, it must be taken into consideration that averages are highly manipulated by extreme data. This means that many seniors could be taking a full course load of 8 classes, but the average is lowered due to other seniors taking the bare minimum to graduate. For many seniors, fulfilling graduation requirements only necessitates taking a fourth year of English and history. 

So far NC’s class of 2021 seems to be coping with their senioritis. While many members admit to having cases of the disease, the class overall doesn’t seem to be letting it negatively impact their grades. It is yet to be seen if this will continue to be the case in the second semester. The third quarter, in particular, can be difficult for all students, not just seniors. However, it is more important than some seniors realize to keep their grades up. For those that are college-bound, colleges require seniors to send in their final grades even though they have already been accepted to a college or university. If seniors let their grades slip too much, a college could take back their offer of admission and/or scholarships. 

Stay tuned for another senioritis update for the class of 2021.