Junioritis

Senioritis: it may not be a word that would be found in a dictionary, but it is definitely one that echoes through the halls of Alameda High School every day. While this word, or, rather, this way of life, explains the reason why seniors slack off, party too much, and generally don’t care half as much about higher education as they did freshman year, it overlooks one major point: that senioritis is not exclusive to seniors. I am a junior, and I can personally say that I have been suffering from senioritis since my sophomore year. Classic sings: excessive doodling; showing up to class late or not at all; mentally categorizing homework as optional, not mandatory; or, in some more dedicated cases, showing up to class stoned. We can understand why seniors would get this way: they’re dreaming about college, freedom, life uninterrupted by parents or guardians who think they know best. What I’ve come to find is the most dangerous part of senioritis, is the fact that it’s contagious.

Let’s face it, Alameda High School “Always [has] High Standards”; but I think that we achieve these standards in spite of our procrastination. Ultimately, we students want to get good grades in class; however, a large part of the class will fall asleep during class or be too preoccupied texting about lunch plans or trying to beat the next level of an addictive Iphone game to actually get any work done during the fifty-five minutes we’re allotted.

It’s pretty amusing to watch the freshmen that clog the halls during passing period, or at break: especially for those of us with lockers in the Industrial Arts building. Personally, I think that each and every one of us who store our belongings in these hallways has done something cosmically wrong. Us upperclassmen drag ourselves out of bed, come to class (usually without paper or a pencil), gloomily facing the idea of 7 hours of staring at these ugly walls. However, in the Industrial Arts building, we are constantly bombarded by boisterous, disgustingly happy, annoying-beyond-words freshmen; honestly, I believe that half of AHS’s freshmen class has lockers in this building. It’s amazing to me the difference between freshmen, and us upperclassmen: is there something about high-school that crushes our spirits? I think there’s a lack of balance as you get older and are introduced to more. Is there a connection between obsessive socializing or even seriousness about clubs and sports, and the slow decline of positive thoughts towards school? The older I get, the more I think DEFINITELY.