Seniors, you are
fast-approaching the end of your high school career. You likely have mixed
emotions about this milestone, and those emotions might change on a weekly
(maybe even a daily) basis! No matter what emotions you are feeling, finish
your senior year strong!
It is somewhat
“traditional” for at least a certain percentage of seniors to get what we used
to call in my school, “senioritis.” (A medical terminology student once told me
that would not be the proper term for what I was describing, but we are going
to go with it anyway!) This is a condition in which a seemingly otherwise
decent/good/excellent student begins to not care about school – classes,
grades, assignments, maybe even activities. It does seem to be contagious at
times, and it can wreak havoc with a classroom, a transcript, and/or a
cumulative grade point average. Avoid this condition like you would avoid a
plague! Seriously! All of the hard work you have put in for 3.5+ years should
NOT go down the tube because you are a little anxious to get out of high school
or you are feeling a little bored and restless. Your final grades count – to
the college you are attending, in your GPA, and, hopefully, to your self-pride
and desire to always do your best. The things you still need to learn these
last several weeks of school are very important in preparing you for college
level work in the fall. Also, the habits and attitude with which you end your
high school career could very well carry over into your first semester of
college, and that is NOT a time when you want to not care or slide through your
classes.
It is always important to
do your best – whether it is a rigorous college prep class, an elective in
which you have (or thought you had) an interest, an activity, a job, etc. It is
always important to follow through with what you have started. It is always
important to finish something with the same enthusiasm (or maybe even more)
with which you started. I was a high school counselor for 18 years. I had to
send out post-graduate surveys every year to specific groups of graduates. I
never ever had a graduate comment that he/she wished they had not worked so
hard in high school. I never ever had a graduate comment that he/she wished
they would have slacked off those last months/weeks. I DID, however, often have
graduates comment that they wished they had worked harder, stuck with more
rigorous classes, or kept plugging away hard until the very last bell their
senior year. Believe me – the graduates who responded were very open and candid
with their remarks about high school, so I know they were being honest when
they said these things.
So – hold on to your hats
– the year is slipping away. It’s a definite downhill slide until the last bell
of high school. But don’t make your last weeks of high school a downhill slide
for you, personally. Keep on top of scholarships, classes, activities,
friendships. They are all very important, and I guarantee you will not look
back and wish you’d taken it easier. You will be glad and proud that you
finished with a flourish!
Mary Joan
ICAN - Sioux City and Orange City Centers
