Overcoming the dreaded senioritis bug at Merrimack High

Published: Sunday, February 7, 2010

Finals at Merrimack High School were a clear indicator of the end of the semester and the beginning of the second half of the year.

First-semester classes end and new ones begin. Schedules are switched to accommodate the changes, which made the Monday after exams almost like another first day of school. Unfamiliar faces in classes, misplaced freshmen roaming the halls and a general sense of a clean slate all factored in to an interesting day.

The home run, the final stretch, the light at the end of the tunnel are phrases that come to mind for any Merrimack senior when asked to describe the second semester.

“I can’t believe it went that fast,” senior Caitlin Weiser said. “I feel like it was just yesterday I was a freshman. I really can’t believe three years of my life went by that quickly.

“It just seems so strange that I will be leaving for college next year, possibly somewhere really far away from Merrimack, New Hampshire.”

Many students share this mind-set when going about the school day.

“It’s just little things that remind you how close you are to graduation,” senior Josh Mulvey said. “Like cap and gown measurements the other week. I can’t believe that I’m getting my cap and gown for my graduation. I just feel like it should be further away or something.

“Things like sitting with all the seniors in the senior annex in the cafeteria just remind you every day to just hang in there and you’re almost done. It’s so exciting.”

Along with the second-semester excitement also comes the dreaded “senioritis” – the “disease” from which high school seniors sometimes suffer toward the end of their last school year. This disease is usually caused by college acceptance letters, with symptoms that include, but aren’t limited to, procrastination, oversleeping, failing to do schoolwork on time or at all, missing classes, poor grades and a general decrease in interest in succeeding in school.

Senioritis “really just hits you second semester,” senior Joe Lord said. “It’s so hard to stay on task. I just keep telling myself I need to make it to June.”

It’s hoped the seniors at Merrimack High School will hang on for just little longer; graduation is only five months away.

Colleen Vaillancourt is a senior at Merrimack High School.