Graduation is only a few months away and seniors are starting to get antsy about being on their own. Personally, I feel confident and more than ready to leave the nest and be on my own than some of my classmates.  While preparing for college, seniors begin to reminisce over their ups and downs at MBHS. It’s bittersweet for the founding class to leave a place that was almost a second home for the past four years, but it’s exciting to start a new adventure, in this case, college. 

When entering high school, a wave of excitement and anxiety washes over you as you start your next chapter as a teen. It can be overwhelming, especially when you’re being pressured to be molded into the perfect straight-A student. Freshman year is a significant year for newcomers who want to make a great first impression and strive to achieve academic success.  Sophomore year is an in-between year that’s just there. However, Junior year is heavily emphasized as the most important year of one’s high school career. And it truly is when you’re drowning in the most school work, preparing for SAT/ACT, continuing with extracurricular activities and community service, and trying to maintain a social life. Junior year is when colleges see your potential. Senior year is also a significant year as the college application process begins in full swing, and students must prepare for adulthood.

It’s not as much of a hassle in the spring semester, but this is when seniors are taken over by the contagious disease, senioritis. Senioritis is a seen as an American high school phenomenon. Urban Dictionary defines senioritis as a “crippling disease that strikes high school seniors. Symptoms include laziness, over-excessive wearing of track pants, old athletic shirts, sweatshirts. Also features a lack of studying, repeated absences, and a generally dismissive attitude.” The only known cure for this horrible sickness is graduation. The question remains, how does one get senioritis and how can we avoid it?

According to College Board, senioritis can be prevented by “(1) maintaining a challenging course load to earn college credit, (2) responsibly enjoy your senior experience with school-oriented events and activities, (3) be committed to an internship or a career-oriented that will make your decisions easier about your future, (4) keep in track of deadlines and events, and (5) avoid obsessing with the admissions process.” If not, your grades could suffer.

Being in the moment means enjoying it while it lasts even if you don’t like it. Fellow MBHS senior, Taslim Muhammad, recollects his time here and being a part of the founding class, “I feel pretty great, even though it’s a new school and when we first came in we didn’t know what to expect. It feels that with us graduating we hope to set something for the other classes that graduate,” he said. 

Taslim’s preparation for graduation and college is “like a bittersweet moment. “I’m kinda happy about moving on and going to college and pursuing what I want, but then I’m kind of sad with leaving.”

High school can either be a blur or just dragging along when you’re there, but you have to be in the moment it to appreciate it.