Senior Myths Dispelling the rumors of senior year

Senior Year Myths

Senior dispels myths about the infamous final year of high school.

BY SARAH HARRIS CO-EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

When I was a freshman, I wished I was a senior. I remember walking down the halls with my beanie on thinking of all the ways I would initiate my freshman buddy. I remember looking at the seniors and being unable to fathom ever getting to be their age or look as mature and intimidating as them. But somehow I did. For four years we are told about the infamous “senior year.” We heard that seniors always win because it is rigged or that first semester is the only one that counts, but as a senior I am beginning to learn that most of these senior year myths are just that: myths.

I’m not going to say that senior year isn’t fun and doesn’t have perks, because I would be lying. However, in my experience, senior year isn’t the “best year of your life” experience everyone makes it out to be. It is another year with a few extra benefits.

Every year students gain new privileges. Freshman year: students are in high school. Sophomore year: students get to drive. Junior year: students get their beloved Sion ring and attend prom. Senior year: students get their own parking lot, get to go out for lunch and get first dibs on everything. However, these privileges come with a lot of responsibility.

When seniors go out to lunch we have to be back at a certain time and must sign in. Also when making decisions, we have to be careful because often what we choose will affect the rest of the school. That is a lot of pressure that comes with getting Chick-fil-A for lunch.

Another rumored benefit to senior year is that it only counts for one semester. False. Senior year, more than any other year, counts for both semesters. This is because colleges want to make sure that your grades haven’t dropped after gaining admission. This puts an equal amount of pressure on second semester as there was in the first semester.

This pressure demands that homework is completed and tests are studied for which dispels the rumor about how easy senior year is for everyone. The key word is everyone. I know a lot of girls that haven’t done homework since January. These girls think senior year is so easy. Being one of those girls is not a bad thing. You get to enjoy your last year of high school.

However, that isn’t what high school is for. High school is there to push you and prepare you for college. This means pushing yourself in the last year of high school. Try taking a harder class or joining a new activity. Not just for your resume, but for yourself. Working hard isn’t a bad thing. There is nothing wrong with working hard during senior year. That is what colleges want to see. Although, try not to go overboard. Take a few challenging courses. Try a new activity not six. Working hard doesn’t mean never having fun. Senior year may not be easy, but make time to spend with your friends because this is your last year to be all together.

This is the last year to have a Spirit Week or a Food for Thought skit. The last year to wear the gray kilt everyday to class. The last year to walk into school and be surrounded by 450 other girls that love and support you. Senior year is the last year for a lot of things, but it is also the first year for somethings, such as winning. Yes, the oldest rumor in the book: seniors win everything because it is rigged. In my previous three years I believed this rumor wholeheartedly. Winning everything was a senior rite of passage right? Wrong. This can be proven by the car raffle and the hallway decoration challenge in Sion Olympics. Yet most of the time seniors do win, and I know why.

The reason seniors are always winning is because they are always trying. For three years grades don’t try as hard as the seniors because they believe it is rigged anyway so there is no need to try because the seniors will win. This gives the motivated seniors an easy win. As a senior, I wish we won everything. But that isn’t the case. But when we do win it isn’t because we cheated. It is because we tried the hardest, performed the best and put the most time into practicing. We always win fair and square.

When I was a freshman, I wished I was a senior. Now that I am a senior, I wish I was a freshman. Not because I liked the way the seniors made us sing the senior song if caught without our beanies or because I liked being one of the new kids. It’s because that means I would be able to do it all again. I would be able to sing the school song at the end of assemblies for four more years and be apart of Sion Olympics and Food for Thought again. It would mean that I would be able to stay at home for four more years and not have to venture into the unknown. But most of all, it would mean that I still believed in all the glorious senior year myths. I believed that senior year would be the best of my life and that seniors always win. I would look forward to being a senior while never letting the present slip past me. I would see the seniors in the hall and know that someday I won’t only be them, but I will exceed them.

Top 5 Myths of Senior Year by Seniors on the Le Journal Staff

1

Senior year is easy.

This is not true. After taking three APs, one Honors class and applying to 12 colleges I can say that senior year isn’t always easy. Senior year can be easy, but only if you don’t challenge yourself.

2

Seniors win everything because it is always rigged.

This was proven untrue during the car raffle and other all school events. The truth is the seniors win fair and square. Nothing is rigged.

3

Deciding on a college is easy. Deciding on a college could be easy. If you were recruited for a school to play sports or have your heart set on one school, then it probably is easy. Unfortunately, that is the minority. Choosing a college is a big decision and it will be a very hard decision.

4

Seniors always get away with breaking rules.

Unfortanelty, this isn’t true. If anything seniors get away with less. This is because we are the leaders of the school and have to lead by example. Seniors get in trouble just like everyone else.

5

First semester is the only one that counts.

Both semesters count. Colleges do look at your second semester grades so you don’t want to let your grades drop. The first semester helps you get into college, but the second semester keeps you in.

Food For Thought Skits

October 16

Winter Formal

December 6

“Suessical: The Musical”

January 24

Catholic Schools Week

January 26-30

Kairos 46 Sion Olympics

February 4-6 February 27

Father-Daughter Dance MORP

February 8 March 28

Kairos 47

April 8-11

PROM

April 18

Ring Ceremony

April 30

Graduation

May 21