Rosamond Chung March 6, 2020
In this world of never-ending assessments, it’s hard to think there will ever be an end to this nightmare that we call HKIS. But folks buckle up! The seniors have come up with a solution. We call it “senioritis”, the simple act of relaxing and enjoying our last semester in high school. It’s become a hot topic amongst students and teachers, and many teachers would argue that a student should never give up on school. I think about it differently.
I have spent my entire high school career anxious worrying about the next test and worrying about getting an A on my FRP. Whether I realized it or not, everything I did was in some way always related to the need to get into college. But now that all applications have been submitted and we are counting down the days until graduation, it’s easy to see why seniors fall into a dry spell that is inspired by the semester of lasts: last prom, last MUN conference, last time being with your friends.
As seniors, we are so focused on reminiscing on all the lasts. We feel a need to explore everything we never got the chance to do in high school, so we put the work on the back burner. For me, I took this semester to be the time to talk to underclassmen, do things I love, and spend time with my family.
First, I have made it one of my missions to talk to underclassmen. Before this semester, I rarely cared enough to talk to them because I thought we would have nothing in common. But lo and behold, I made so many friends by just opening up. Why would I choose to work on irrelevant homework when I could be building relationships with people that teach me something textbooks could never? On this year’s CISSMUN (an MUN conference), I was able to become close with sophomores and freshmen. One freshman in particular taught me about kindness — she is genuinely the nicest person I’ve met. She taught me that being kind to others helps others but also yourself. These lessons could never be replicated by any class, which is why I value conversations with people over studying.
Second, I think the main reason I stopped caring as much was due to the fact that after all my years of high school, I could finally focus on things I love. The classes that I never had time to take because of APs were finally open to take. Instead of taking all AP classes in Senior year, I decided to drop them for something I actually want to do: photography and graphic design. This year I will have taken 5 art classes, with the addition of my senior project. In a way, giving up on AP classes was worth it because I got to discover my passions.
Lastly and most importantly, I want to spend the rest of my semester rebuilding my relationships with my family, particularly my parents. As a problematic child, I decided to stop screwing up the second semester and focus on growing up. My parents are constantly worrying that I won’t be able to take care of myself when I go to college, but my goal for this semester is to show them I have grown up.
With all of this said, it’s clear to me that senioritis is justified by the fact that life is all about experience. I want to remember my last semester in HKIS as the year I did everything I was too afraid to do when I was younger.