Finishing the school year strong: Tips for beating “Senioritis”

SAN DIEGO (KUSI) – Students around San Diego are getting ready for summer especially if they’re high school seniors. Seniors have finished the long haul and many feel like this last month is time to coast. “Senioritis” can be a real and epidemic, according to educators.

But students should think twice about putting their brain on automatic pilot this last month of school. Dr. Helen Griffth, executive director of e3 Civic High and 25-year educator in the San Diego public school system, has some practical tips on how parents can help their students beat Senioristis:

1) Acknowledge it. Let’s not try to sweep it under the rug. Encourage your child to just tell it like it it: They’ve got Senioritis.

2) Remind them of the finish line. You don’t get a medal for going only 26 miles of a marathon. You need to cross the finish line. Have a conversation about the importance of finishing strong, honoring commitments, and maintaining one’s reputation. Remind scholars that they can have an excellent four years at high school, but their teachers, friends, and family will remember their most recent experiences. Share a story about someone you know who had a weak finish and it cost them.

3) Remind your scholar that their strong finish looks even stronger when everyone else is slacking off. Their A- looks a lot like an A+ when the rest of the class is plagued with Senioritis. That is important at this time of year when teachers are nominating scholars for awards.

4) Remind scholars that colleges can – and do! – rescind admissions offers when a student under-performs on his or her final report card.

5) Use this as an opportunity to build stamina. Academic life is a lot like athletics. You build strength by pushing through with hard work. When you feel tired and overworked and just finished a project you had no desire to do – celebrate! This feeling means you just got stronger.

6) Allow for downtime and brain breaks. Schedule diversions and fun. Life is not a slog, it’s balanced with good times too!