Many people think senior year is a breeze.
Stress, excitement, and sadness are the main emotions of seniors.
While senior year is really a year of decision-making and excitement, it’s a new chapter of life that is still stressful for many students.
Senior year comes with many tough decisions. But the most stressful is graduation pressure and thinking about what’s next.
So while senior year may be easy and a breeze for some students, for others it is the hardest year of their life.
Making college decisions is a senior’s number-one hardest decision.
There are many different colleges and college opportunities out there, and it’s hard to slowly bring it down to just one.
College is a big deal, you have to make sure the college you’re going to has what you really want, and has what you plan of studying.
“Having to make a college decision was probably one of the hardest things I have had to do in my life. I had to think about my family, travel time, and my boyfriend, but also keep what I wanted to do and what mattered to me in mind.” Lily Dotson said.
College doesn’t just include what your studying but many other things come into play, like how far your willing to be away from family, travel time to get back for holidays.
While those things may not be important for some, for many seniors this is one of there biggest hardships when making a college decision.
“A big reason making a college decision was hard for me was simply the fact that I wanted my family to be proud of where I was going. I also didn’t want them to worry about me.” Zoie Gould said.
Family opinion on college is just another reason why it’s stressful for students.
College isn’t the only thing that makes senior year hard.
Senior year is filled with many big projects and things to complete in order to even graduate. The senior project is one of the biggest projects for the senior year.
Most students have a lot of time to be thinking about what there project is going to be, and many are reminded of the senior project, even before the start of senior year.
However, your senior project is a very important assignment that has to be passed in order to graduate.
“When I first heard of the senior project in my junior year speech class, I hadn’t even entered senior year, and it came as a scare to me. Knowing this was something I had to do in order to even get my diploma was scary.” Evan Hildesheim said.
The senior project isn’t the only big project that comes along with senior year, but its one of the biggest weights that a senior has to think about.
Another pressure of being a senior is simply the grade book.
Grades are always important, but senior year has no time for mistakes; you have to have good grades in order to receive your diploma.
Keeping up with grades can be a big struggle for many seniors.
“Senior year was one of the hardest years for keeping my grades up; my motivation for showing up for school and completing my assignments was hard.” Morgan Dickerson said.
Senioritis is a term almost every senior has heard.
Senioritis is the loss of motivation that comes over seniors, usually towards the end of the year, but for many, it starts earlier.
Motivation is something that is needed for school, especially in the senior year.
If you leave your assignments to sit and pile up it can quickly become worse, because not only does it make more assignments that you have to catch up on, but it also puts a damper on your grades.
“Senioritis for me kicked in early. I stopped coming to school, stopped doing my assignments, and honestly didn’t really care, until I came to the realization that school is actually important and this was the year that really mattered,” Jaeden Erk said.
For seniors, keeping up on your assignments and doing your work seems easier than it really is.
Finals are another struggle for seniors; finals are very important for senior year, and are needed to pass your classes.
Studying becomes almost an everyday thing, and the fear of failing is noticeable.
“I started falling behind on some of my assignments because of trips I was taking, then I quickly realized finals were coming up, and I was too worried about how I needed to pass those,” Tray Otley said.
For many seniors, this is a big deal.
Along with the senior pressures that were already mentioned, financial status usually is another big stressor for seniors in high school.
Money becomes a bigger problem than it ever has been.
Most seniors are graduating at the ages of seventeen and eighteen and are looking to getting there own space.
Whether that’s an apartment or living with a friend, this becomes a big goal for many seniors, leaving them thinking about how they are going to accomplish this.
Along with financial issues, college becomes a big topic.
College is not cheap, and it’s a lot of money to further your education, along with the other fees that may occur, like housing, books, and more.
Thinking about financial status leads many seniors to apply for scholarships or financial aid programs.
Applying for these things takes up more time than you would think and can also be a big part of seniors’ stress.
Many scholarships require essays to be written, or have some sort of questionnaire, and while some of them don’t, it still requires time and effort.
Graduation is the goal of senior year and really is a big deal, and that in itself is hard.
Emotional stress is also a big factor in senior year.
Many seniors fear that graduation is going to separate or take them and there friends away from each other.
Many groups of friends all have different paths that they are taking in life, wether thats going to a college in a different state or going into a trade school instead.
Friends in high school are important, and many seniors don’t want to lose those connections.
With all of these senior concerns, graduation comes quickly, and graduating is ultimately the overall goal of highschool.
When the end of the year approaches, it leaves no time for mistakes.
The end of senior year moves quickly and comes with even more stress.
Graduation photos start getting planned, caps and gowns arrive, and the real pressure sets in.
Walking the stage finally becomes real.
And for many is a big deal, and while you can choose to walk the stage or not, many seniors choose the path to walk and show one of there biggest accomplishments.
The pressure of knowing the senior class and their families will be watching is a stressful scenario in itself.
Saying your final goodbyes to students and your fellow teachers quickly becomes real.
While all of these senior concerns are real-life challenges and can be scary, they are all a part of a bigger and better future.
Graduation can be scary, and senior year can be stressful, but nothing beats walking across that stage with a diploma in your hand.
Graduating highschool is a quick change from adolescence to adult hood. For many its time to figure their life out.
And while these are valid stressors for seniors, all of these can be avoided with the right mind set.
Senior year is the year that everything changes, and it’s honestly a beautiful thing.
