SARAH PFANDER
Gargoyle co-editor-in-chief
Posted Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2007

RIGHT NOW, SCHOOL is the last place I want to be. Homework has gone from a top priority to a bottom one.

Call it senioritis, if that simple diagnosis satisfies you.

But in my mind, this lethargy requires more analysis.

I’m almost halfway through my fifth year at Uni High. Yay, I’m a senior. Things are all good and fun, I rule the school, and I finally get to take the classes that I want to take. After I get into college, the rest of this year will be a stressless mélange of rainbows, unicorns, and butterflies. Right?

God, I hope so. Because at the rate this year has been going, if things don’t improve I am liable to commit myself to a mental institution and spend years recovering from the strain of my final year here.

I am sick to death of coming to this school every day, then attending sports practice, and then plodding through hours of calculus homework. Yet, my high school life, which was at one point so satisfying, has definitely transformed into an ugly monster made of bulls***.

And, I can’t even blame this new state of mind on the stress of college applications. I’m taking a year off next year, so I don’t necessarily need to get into college, though it would certainly make life easier. Additionally, I’ve applied early decision to a school to which I will probably gain admittance. Honestly, my college journey is not that stressful.

It’s just that school, teachers, and friends — they’ve all gotten old. It sounds mean, I know. But I can’t help but excitedly anticipate the coming year when I finally get to start over, meet new people, and just get the heck out of here.

So sure, I’ve got senioritis. I’m burned out. Blah, blah, blah.

Well, I’m not going to take this verdict lying down. I’m sick and tired of people assuming that this dissatisfaction and exhaustion are merely an inevitable characteristic of senior year and that there is nothing to be done about senioritis.

I’m here to tell you that there is something to be done about this unending trend.

GIVE US A BREAK!!!!!!!

Seniors don’t want to be here. So don’t make them come.

Essentially, I am proposing an optional five-year high school plan. One would stay in school for freshman through junior year, then get a year off. Afterward, one would come back for senior year, rejuvenated and ready to go and excited to make the most of senior year.

I don’t propose that the students who opt for such a program sit on their couches for a full year, playing video games and gaining 15 pounds.

Rather, I think that participants should be assigned a yearlong activity that they find interesting and engaging. Some could go abroad for the year, some could take advantage of an internship, some could volunteer with charities like Habitat for Humanity. Uni could ensure that every student is taken care of and placed in a program.

After all, Uni is a laboratory school. Maybe it’s time we actually tried something new. Additionally, half of the students are young to begin with, so this optional extra year would allow them to catch up with other college freshmen.

When the students return to school, they would be ready for another academic year, excited to see their friends and no longer bored with the endless marble hallways that have caged them since their subfreshman year.

Even if a year is too much time, and such planning would be too complicated, Uni can still implement something similar to the Senior Project program found at New Trier High School or the Senior Studies program found at Evanston Township High School and other big schools in the northern suburbs of Chicago.

With Senior Studies, seniors can essentially take their second semester off to pursue an interest. Many volunteer at local hospitals or find internships with local businesses.

Students in the program have learned to make violins, worked in an art studio, and helped in a grade school classroom. I have a friend at New Trier who likes the summer camp we both attend so much that she’s using her second semester to live there during the week, help the maintenance crew, and conduct a study on the positive influence summer camps have on children.

The seniors who participate don’t have to come into class except for their AP courses because they must complete the entire curriculum for AP credit.

Throughout the semester, Senior Studies counselors — often teachers in a related field — help the students with their assignment.

At the end of the year, the participants must turn in a final paper or project detailing what they did, how it went, what they learned, etc.

This sounds like a practical, fun, and creative solution to the problem of senioritis. I would love to spend next semester pursuing an interest unrelated to school. I would probably have to come into school for English and PE because I need four full credits, and perhaps I would opt to stay in physics.

But, three classes are a lot fewer than seven, which is my current course load. And, the change of pace that would come from such a project would certainly cure my senioritis.

I challenge the school to actually consider such a program. Surely, the procedure would not be that complicated.

If Student Council or the Student-Faculty Advisory Committee took the reins and established that there is enough interest, then it wouldn’t take much to get the ball rolling. They could organize visits to schools that have a Senior Studies program and research how implementation would work. They could set up a committee and issue a formal report to the school's Curriculum Committee.

I think that if students took the initiative, did the work, and showed the administration that we would seriously like to start this program, the faculty and administration could not ignore us. A Senior Studies program would surely become a part of Uni.

Until then, good luck to all the future seniors. Try not to punch through that many mirrors. I know it is tempting.