Emilie Kushner
Senior Editor
Along with the alliteration, the second semester senior slump is being seen all throughout the halls of NCHS. As the weather warms up, work ethic and motivation is cooling down. To all you underclassmen: be jealous, and to the teachers: beware.
Senior and student body president Will Hennessey is not one to be unmotivated. “I have been putting almost the same amount of effort into my classes,” he said. “But I find myself not stressing out over smaller assignments that I didn’t do as well as I liked to on.”
However, Will has adapted to the lack of motivation of his peers. “I think that I have learned how much homework I need to do in order to do well in a class but not ‘over achieve’ I also find myself procrastinating a bit more than I did before.”
Senior Tori Williams begs to differ. “I’ve always been a procrastinator so I don’t see much change in my work ethic,” she said. “My parents have accepted that these are the last times I will have with my friends. Why not live it up?”
Will doesn’t think this is the way to go about second semester. “I think the biggest myth is that you ‘don’t have to care’ – I think that the standards are the still the same it is just how much you care about your image as a students to the teachers and your parents,” he said. “My parents are still acting the same and still hold me to the same standards.”
English teacher Hannah Magnan teaches many classes with second semester seniors. “Second semester seniors are a fun and a challenging group,” she said. “The majority of them have been accepted into college, so their grade-based motivation is occasionally somewhat flagging.”
Ms. Magnan doesn’t believe this mindset is necessarily all that bad. “[Second semester] doesn’t mean that they aren’t willing to work, just that many of them are no longer trying to chase down a grade, which, to me, seems like a more genuine learning experience,” she said. “When they achieve something remarkable, they’ve done so because of their intrinsic motivation, because they genuinely enjoy the material or the discovery process.”
Slacking off seems somewhat out of the picture. Often acceptances are contingent on that the student maintains their grades and doesn’t get arrested. Sophomore Lauren Mellinger, who has a senior sister, has heard this myth many times. “I have heard that if you slack off too much and get really bad grades that the acceptance to college can be revoked, but I’ve never heard of that actually happening!” she said.
Senior Meredith Jonker isn’t too worried. “I don’t turn 18 until December 25 next year so I’m not too worried about getting arrested and in big trouble,” she said. “I also doubt they will revoke my acceptance because my grades are pretty much the same as last semester.”
There is an incentive to not fail or to maintain an 85 average: seniors that do not have any unexcused absences, only five excused absences, and an 85 in the class are exempt from finals.
Senior Abbie Stone’s grades freeze May 17 because she is participating in the senior internship program. “A big part of my decision to do the program was that I was scared I wouldn’t get an 85 in physics!” she said. “Now I don’t have to take any finals.”
So what causes the slump? Maybe students are now realizing they only have three months left with their classmates who they’ve spent the past 13+ years with. “I’m looking forward to just enjoying the presence of everyone in the class of 2013,” Will said. “Its weird to think that in a few months I will never see most of these people again- so I’m going to enjoy the moments I have!”
