Students check-out as summer comes closer

Written by: Kendall Wright '13

The beginning of April is a time that all schools look forward to. The winter weather is fading; the school year is slowly coming to an end. spring break is here. For some, this means traveling. Some prefer to spend their vacation around home. Whether this time is spent with friends or family, a good time is had by all.

At some point though, it all has to come to an end.  Returning from spring break poses many problems for students and teachers of Eaton Rapids High School. Students tend to experience a huge lack of focus, which in turn can cause teacher’s tolerance to drop, and stress level to sky rocket.

What is it that causes this chain of events though? This tends to be worse in some students than others. Seniors, specifically experience a huge lack of focus and effort for these last few weeks.

Senior Ryan Tomlinson said his effort before the break was a solid seven out of ten, soon after it dropped to three and a half. The main reason he said was, “Golf season comes around, and I miss a lot of school.”

This is probably also the case for many others too, as athletics are constantly taking students out of the classroom and onto the field, court, or track. Another thing causing lack of focus for people graduating this year is this thing called “Senioritis.”  This is of course a fake disease, used for an excuse by seniors to teachers for dropping performance in school.

The three leading causes of senioritis according to Mr. Whitmyer are: Spring Break, prom coming and going, and already being accepted to college. There is an idea in some people’s heads that a students last trimester of high school doesn’t count and colleges don’t look at it.

This of course is false. It still affects your final GPA, and the college you are soon to be attending could see it, and rebuke a scholarship previously offered to you. Sadly, many buy into this idea, or still don’t care about their last trimester. “Grades slip a lot,” says Mr. Whitmyer. In one of his classes he had nine A’s before the break, and in a very short amount of time after, the number dropped to two.

For other students there seems to be a plain and simple explanation as to why they seem to “check out” after spring break. Summer is just around the corner. According to Curtis Wells, “before Christmas everyone looks forward to that. Before Spring Break everyone looks forward to that.

Summer and a long break is just what will come next for students in the chain of events.” With a long three month vacation ahead of some one, would they rather dwell on that, and the fun it will bring; or work on another measly assignment in class.

Spring break is just one less stop, and the final one, until summer vacation comes around. Students have now been working for over half a year, and a much needed break is soon to occur. The same thing repeats every year, and it will not be changing anytime soon.