At this moment, I have three scholarship applications to work on, a test to study for, and a bedroom so messy that it’s at risk of being featured on Hoarders. With a to-do list that seems to get longer every day, and a dwindling sense of responsibility, it seems I have finally been hit with an inevitable case of senioritis.

Never in my life have I felt so lazy and apathetic! Writing this column took several days, if not more than a week.  I wasn’t taking long for the sake of perfection, but rather because I was busy reading celebrity gossip blogs instead.

Unsurprisingly, my lack of initiative has caused me to fall behind in class. I now understand why they say AP stands for “advanced procrastinator” because I have become one. I don’t know how many times I’ve cracked open my book, and promised myself to start working after a 15 minute nap, only to wake up from that nap two hours later. After that, I’ll tell myself I need to make more time to do my work. In the end, I actually do make time for my work…the night before it is due.

The sense of indifference also goes beyond academics. Little things such as washing my face or folding laundry are now suddenly laborious chores. My face is wiped down with a warm towel, and whatever doesn’t absolutely need to be folded is shoved into a drawer. I have yet to mail back the movie I rented from Netflix, or read any of the recent issues of Seventeen I’ve received.

It’s a pity that I’ve finally fallen victim to senioritis when I have so many things pending. However, I recently spoke with some seniors and found I’m not the only one. Many of them share my feelings about schoolwork and responsibilities.

“Part of me wants to be an adult, but the other part of me wants to be a kid and mess around.” said Karen Prieto, a senior guitar student.

“I’m always sleepy, and I never want to do work. I always end up doing homework in the mornings,” said Emmanuel Valdez, another guitar student.

When I asked them to compare their attitudes as seniors to the ones they had as freshmen, several of them burst out laughing. I laughed along with them, remembering how frazzled I was when I started high school.

“This year, we don’t even care if we miss the bus,” said Cristina Salazar. “We just watch the freshmen rush to class, and remember. And then we laugh. They’re going to be the same (as us) once they’re seniors.”

I asked their teacher, Billy Thatcher, how he felt his seniors were doing in their final semester.

“They try to take it easy, or get more breaks. They still do their work, but a little later,” he said.

Yet even he had his own experiences to share.

“My last semester of high school, I only had three classes, and they were a bunch of art classes.” '

Thatcher explained that he was ahead of his classmates as a senior. He had the option to graduate in December but chose to stay in school until May.

“So I would show up at around ten or eleven to class, and then just leave,” he added with a chuckle.

After my interview with Mr. Thatcher and his students, I went over to the art building and interviewed two more students.

I began my interview by asking them one simple question: “Do you think you have senioritis?”

“Yeah,” Jesus Sanchez replied with a shrug of his shoulders. I asked him to elaborate.

“Now I feel I have the right to be lazy,” said Sanchez, who is also a dual enrollment student at TAMIU. “I’m pretty much in college already, so high school isn’t really that serious to me.”

On the other hand, Jessica Moreno said she didn’t feel any different.

“I don’t think laziness is strictly for seniors; everyone feels it. I’ve been equally lazy throughout high school!” she joked. She then shared a clever point with me.

“We don’t need energy, we need motivation.”

Standing by as I interviewed them, Gilberto Rocha, their art instructor, joined the conversation. He explained his theory as to why seniors are dragging their feet at this point in the year.

“Their focus is on different things, like prom and graduation. They have so many things going on, and they also tend to take advantage of their status.” said Rocha.

I asked him the same question I asked Mr. Thatcher.

“I couldn’t slack off since I was in baseball. We had to be very disciplined, or we couldn’t play. Although…” he added with a grin, “I did skip my last baseball game to go to prom.”

After I finished interviewing them, I packed up my notebook and pen and returned to my journalism classroom. Once I got there, armed with the insights of students and teachers, I began to wonder if there was a cure for senioritis. A special root tea? A magic pill? Therapy?

Unfortunately, I know that senioritis, though not an actual disease, is similar in the sense that a cure doesn’t exist. It can only be managed, and not so easily. It’s hard to sit down and get to work when you’re busy thinking about that boy you danced with at Winter Ball, your plans for the weekend, or when you begin to question your sanity as you think about the near future.

I’ve been keeping myself afloat this year by remembering that all this work will pay off in the long run. Scholarship applications, good grades, and volunteer work will benefit me in several ways. They’ll teach me to be resourceful, responsible, punctual, and everything else an adult must be. At eighteen, it’s time for me to step up my game if I want to be successful.

It all starts with getting my priorities straight, and I think Mr. Thatcher hit the nail on the mark when he told me “No dejes nada que lo puedes hacer hoy para mañana (Don’t leave anything you can do today for tomorrow).” The things I need to do to ensure a better future for myself can’t wait until tomorrow. Neither can yours. There is no better time to do them than now.