Symptoms of Seniorities

Brigham Young University does this week long summer program called EFY-especially for youth. It involves dances, devotionals, and dorm living. Basically, high schoolers pretend to be college students for a week, minus the classes.
Another important part of EFY is finding your COW. I had no idea what it stood for my first year. Finally, on Friday, a girl explained that it stands for Crush of the Week. Pick a boy, fall madly in love for five days, and then say goodbye and only talk on Facebook for the rest of your life.
Since I didn't know about COWs until the last minute, I felt like I'd missed out on some vital component of EFY. That's how I am with senioritis. I've heard people toss around the term for years, but until about a week ago, I didn't know what it actually meant. 
Most students use it as a synonym for laziness, and to be honest, that's the end of it with some people. You were a lazy second grader, lazy seventh grader, and you're not going anywhere after graduation, so don't bother jumping any hurdles. But for everyone else, it's payoff time.
I was cleaning out my room today when I found some graffiti under some books in my nightstand cubby, circa ninth grade. 

"There has to be more to life
than getting good grades to get
into good colleges so you can
get more good grades."

When I was a sophomore year, Jordan, one of my three senior friends, was moaning about his life. "I stayed up till three a.m. playing xbox. I have senioritis so bad." I shot back a long list of all the legitimate homework I'd been doing until the wee hours of morning. That colored my understanding of senioritis for the next two years. 
Now I finally get it. Senioritis isn't all about lethargy. It's part mid-youth crisis. You've spent your entire high school career just getting by. Now you need to go on dates and watch basketball games and join clubs before it's too late. It's part bittersweet. You float around in this pre-nostalgic haze. I'll be walking down a hallway or joining my friends for lunch and all of a sudden it hits me. I'm a senior. There are only so many of these days left. Sure, I can track down my individual friends and come back to the building for a stroll down memory lane, but it's not the same. It's the whole I'll miss, not the pieces. 
And, yeah, it's part lethargy.

Senioritis Symptoms

• Your graduation year is '15, so Josten makes makes clever little Seniorit15 shirts to spell out the name of your condition.
• You leave for the last half hour of orchestra to hang out with your friends in choir next door.
• You drop that math class you weren't required to take anyway for an internship that will actually give you a leg up in your future career. 
• You light a bowl of pudding on fire to relieve stress after submitting a gigantic scholarship application. Also, you've always wondered if pudding will burn.
• You stop saving school papers for your annual homework bonfire, even though it's been a tradition since eighth grade, which is when you discovered jello doesn't burn either. It sizzles.
• When people ask for your hobbies and you're in a candid mood, you say, "Taking buzzfeed quizzes" instead of "Sleep." 

If you or a loved one is suffering from senioritis, please following these steps:

You're earned it.