THE END of the year approaches, but students’ grades and motivation continue to get lower. Seniors usually have fewer than eight classes, so the desire to show up to school is barely there.

“I’m stressed, I don’t have all my assignments turned in,” Jorja Pratt (11) said. When one assignment doesn’t get turned in, it becomes a snowball effect. Assignments pile up and it’s harder to get motivated to do them.

“Showing up to school is really hard for me. Plus, I sleep through most of my alarms,” Lily Garcia (12) said. When students get behind, they must work 10x harder at the end of the quarter than if they turned in their assignments on-time. This makes those last days before the term ends so stressful.

For seniors, it’s their last quarter of high school. They have worked for the past four years and now are almost done. But many have already been accepted into college or have plans for after high school. Their motivation takes a hit.

“Most senior’s classes aren’t required to graduate,” Garcia remarked. The only class most seniors need is their English credit and U.S. government. If they have other classes, it’s usually electives that they enjoy.

There’s another reason that seniors still take more than one class. According to CollegeVine.com, “Admissions decisions are based on the latest edition of your transcript.” So even if students are already accepted, colleges will still get the latest transcript and see how hard they pushed themselves at the end of the year. And if they are in any AP or Concurrent classes, then those results will be on the college record.

“This year is our last, so we might as well go out with a bang,” Garcia added.

For Lancers who are not seniors, the struggle for motivation is still prevalent. Junior year is known to be one of the toughest years; juniors are preparing for the ACT and still have to worry about grades.

It’s best to take advice from those who have been in that exact spot. Garcia thinks that since non-seniors still have to come back next year, they should work really hard during the school year and then they’ll be able to enjoy the summer even more.

And as for the ACT, they will have to put in more work, but once it’s over, they’ll be glad they did.

Even if they aren’t going to college, some jobs look for how they did in high school. They want employees who are hard workers and know how to persevere.

So even if Lancers are tired and want to give up, they should just remember that they are doing hard work now, so they can relax later.