It’s nearing that time of year again – time for AAHS to say goodbye to its senior class. This is the time in our lives when we seniors move forward, grow, and find ourselves. And most importantly, the time when we can finally escape the dreaded Senioritis. According to the all too wise Urban Dictionary, Senioritis is defined as “A crippling disease that strikes high school seniors. Symptoms include: laziness, an over-excessive wearing of track pants, old athletic shirts, sweatpants, athletic shorts, and sweatshirts. Also features a lack of studying, repeated absences, and a generally dismissive attitude. The only known cure is a phenomenon known as graduation.” Unfortunately, Senioritis is real. What follows are first hand stories from Air Academy students about what it’s really like to be a high school senior.

“Senioritis is having gone through all four years of high school and just being ready to be done,” said AAHS senior Alexis Watson.

Grace Pavlov defined Senioritis as the time “when you’re ready to be out of high school so you don’t care about homework or anything else.”

We seniors know this epidemic all too well. Being late to classes more often than you’re on time, napping instead of doing homework, the list doesn’t stop there. Michaela Barber states that her worst symptom of Senioritis is “waking up three hours early on the day a project is due and completing it start to finish.”

Part of the unbearableness of Senioritis has to do with all the responsibilities we have. “The hardest part of being a senior is having to figure out what you’re doing next year.” said Grace. “When we’re younger we don’t have to worry about that, all we have to do next year is go to high school.”

However, take it from us, and Alexis, who said, “There is a light at the end of the tunnel.”

There is a strong bond amongst seniors that comes from having gone through this long and tiring, yet rewarding, experience together. Benjamin Dinon said that what gets him through senior year is the thought of getting his diploma and finishing the year strong. Deep inside of us, we all know that the feeling of getting up on that stage, and going on to the next chapter of our lives, will make it all worth the wait. “The most rewarding part of being a senior is just being able to gain so much responsibility,” said Ben. So my message to the class of 2015 is this: if we can all make it just a little further, high school will be over. It might even be a little sad. So enjoy this crazy, stressful, beautiful journey before it’s over and the next chapter begins.