By Jessica Walsh
Staff Writer

The fourth term. The weather is warm, and summer draws closer every day. It’s sometimes hard for students to concentrate on school work, when the end of the year is so close. Seniors, whose last day of school is May 23, just under a month before underclassmen, tend to have a particularly difficult time concentrating.

Seniors are at the point now where they have already committed themselves to their college for next year. This fact is a major contributor to the ailment known as “senioritis.” Once senioritis has set in, it can be hard for some seniors to concentrate on the rest of high school.

“I still try, but I don’t let bad grades affect me as much,” said senior Anusha Prasad.

Prasad also noticed that she has seen changes in her fellow classmates. Noting that there is a decrease in effort, and an increase in tardies.

Teachers are also aware of the changes seniors are going through in fourth term.

“I am upfront [with seniors], I make it reasonable and manageable, but I have an expectation level, [I have to] hold students accountable,” said History teacher Andy Norander.

One aspect that annoys Norander about seniors in the fourth term is those who openly declare that they no longer will be putting in effort at school. Norander notes that when even a single student takes this mindset, it affects the whole class.

Norander also made a point of saying that only approximately 20% of his seniors have truly “shut down.” But that it still has a negative impact.

Lori Ditto, a Math teacher, tries to remember what she felt like when she was a senior in high school. She encourages seniors to keep plugging along.

“You don’t want to fail a class if you are capable of passing it,” said Ditto.

Rebecca Thompson, a senior, said that in some of her classes, teachers have actually increased the intensity of the class in order to keep students in-tune.

“Some [teachers] are more intense because they know you want to slack off and want to keep you in-tune,” said Thompson.

Thompson also noted that fourth term should be a time for seniors to spend more time with friends and less time on school work.

Some seniors have a more radical viewpoint to the fourth term.

“Honestly, seniors should just get the fourth term off. We are already committed to college and checked out for summer,” said an anonymous student.

Some teachers are taking different approaches to handling seniors in the fourth term. English teacher Brian Mahoney is similar to Norander where he tries to be more flexible, and assign more “interest driven” assignments.

Mahoney encourages seniors to “learn for the sake of learning,” in the fourth term, to be less concerned about grades, and more concerned with the actual act of learning. Mahoney also said that a senior’s fourth term is their last chance to make their mark on the school. Mahoney stresses that this is the last chance for seniors to connect with their peers on an intellectual level.

“Finishing strong is so important, finishing to the end with your best effort in everything you do,” said Mahoney.