Spring has Sprung and so has Senioritis

**Note to my workshop group: I have two interviews Wednesday where I will insert the details on the conversations. I outlined how I want the piece to go but it is lacking the direct quotes. I will post it as soon as I finish the interview!! ***

Apathy towards school work, increased procrastination, increased participation in extracurricular self-indulgent activities, decreased ability to remember due dates and class times but capacity to remember party dates, decreased attendance at class and increased time spent on leisure activities are all symptoms of the disease that so many of us suffered from in high school and have once again become familiar with.

The American Psychiatric Association doesn’t recognize it as a legitimate illness but as the temperature increases and the sun comes out, senioritis becomes contagious and both graduating seniors and professors feel the effects.

Senioritis is to blame for the slacking off and the indifferent attitude towards lower grades. With SIPs, Comprehensive Exams, finishing up LACs, applying for grad school or figuring out plans for the future, senioritis can really affect students at Kalamazoo College. To most senior students these responsibilities remain a burden, an obstacle in their celebration filled route to graduation. Ninth week into spring quarter, senior Amy Draybuck has not yet finished her SIP but is quite content with where she stands.

Draybuck explains “I feel like for four years I have, in various ways, put my life on hold because of school. I guess I’m finally realizing that there is life beyond K. In the end I know that I will get it done, and I’m sure I have made people mad along the way, but it’s my life, you know?”

A Monday night at Shakespeares followed by a Wednesday at Wayside and a Thursday night at Waldos all seem enticing to seniors who are using the line “there are only so many nights left” as an excuse to put off their responsibilities and have some fun.

Although this attitude may seem negligent, John Lund, a recent graduate of the University of Michigan, rationalizes his behavior by explaining “I knew living the carefree college lifestyle would be ending soon and most people would be moving to different parts of the country and the opportunity to be with them would not be as convenient. Plus, at that point in the semester, you have a good idea how you will do in your classes, so you tend to feel more comfortable not putting in as much effort at the end when you know that you should still be okay academically if you don’t.”

Not putting in effort on school work can be frustrating for professors and underclassmen that are in classes with seniors. Both the dynamic and the atmosphere of the classroom change.

**Insert conversations with Dr. Smith, Professor Moffit and sophomores**

At five o’clock on Saturday evening the quad is relatively quiet with smaller groups of students lying out on blankets and tossing around a frisbee. Within a few minutes the bottom of the hill fills with cars and sweaty bodies as the seniors rowdily congregate in front of Hoben. After several alcoholic beverages at Bells Brewery the senior pig roast is over, but the seniors aren’t finished celebrating. Some students strip down and begin to streak the quad, an activity crucial to Kalamazoo College tradition.

Of course, streaking makes you thirsty. A crowd gathers around the keg at the bottom of the quad and the antics continue. Among a random “K College” cheer, keg stands, keg tosses and overall raucous a security guard looks lost. Two kegs and a half gallon later, three cop cars arrive and the crowd disperses, carrying the keg to the third party location.

**Insert conversation with security guard, Tim Young**

Both Draybuck and Lund are far from regretting the choices they made. Draybuck smiles, “I am having the time of my life.”