Kate Gilhool
Associate Editor
Yesterday morning my Mom called me to inform me that a letter from Hobart and William Smith College, my top choice, was sitting on the kitchen counter.
Obviously my first reaction was, “IS IT BIG OR SMALL?!”
Everyone knows that receiving a thick envelope from a college has always been an indication of acceptance, while a skinny envelope normally means that fate was not on your side.
I had a feeling the news would be good, but had to refrain myself from belting out the ‘Sanasa’ song, (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffMXfdYL41E) because God forbid the College Admission God’s thought I was getting ahead of myself.
The envelope containing the golden ticket to a bright future has been held in front our (students’) faces since kindergarten. It’s like dangling a carrot in front of a horse. It’s cruel, but it gets the horse walking just like that acceptance letter gets us working hard. I guess this analogy doesn’t really correlate to you if you don’t like carrots or don’t plan on going to college…
Long story short, I made it through the longest school day ever raced home. Finally the suspense was over, my hard work paid off, and half way through my senior year I had achieved the ultimate goal, which was to get into college.
But beware, my fellow seniors. While I was busy soaking in the glory of finally getting accepted into school, screaming ‘OHYEAHOHYEAHOHYEAH’ and then tearing up, I was plagued by a nationwide epidemic only affecting seniors; Officials refer to the syndrome as ‘Senioritis.’
Early onset symptoms begin to appear the fall of your senior year, (I think I got it junior year…) but come second semester, even the highest achieving students succumb to Senioritis.
The symptoms can at times be debilitating scholastically and physically. Why go to class when you can veg out on your couch and catch up on Greys Anatomy?
At least ten minutes after ripping open that acceptance letter I was on my way to Westport to do some shopping for next year… It became clear to be that it’s impossible to have a mild case of Senioritis.
You’re entitled to some relaxation and to do what you want to do, as long as it’s reasonable.
For senior students, NCHS becomes a waiting room for high school graduation. Aside from scouring the Internet for videos of cute cats and people on drugs, you can also fill your time with more productive activities. Senioritis might even be a positive thing. With the extra time you’ve given yourself, you can focus on things you may have forgotten about during the tornado of SATs, APs, report cards, and other high school escapades.
Senior internships have always been popular, and not to mention a resume booster. Finding your forgotten talent or a new interest is always rewarding. Who knows, you might just be a talented cupcake chef. You’ll never know until you try, and this might be your last opportunity before college, jobs, serious relationships and the whole shebang dominate your life. Options for second semester seniors affected by Senioritis, productive or not, are endless.
WARNING: Whatever you do, do it in moderation. Just as easy as it is for a college admissions officers to grant you admission, they can just as easily revoke your admission.
