Lexi Preiser ’10
Web Editor-in-Cheif

The end of the new semester marks the end of a long and wearisome battle for seniors—the battle to keep grades as high as ever, to keep eyelids from drooping after late nights, and to keep sane amidst the craziness of college of applications.

When asked to describe first semester in one word, the answers from seniors were bleak: stressful, miserable, exhausting, startling, demanding, nerve-wracking.

Mac Mombello ’10 summed up his experience regarding the past five months simply as “hell.”

Perhaps this is an exaggeration, but what better way is there to depict a teenager’s hell than one filled with tedious college essays, looming deadlines, challenging AP classes, last minute SATs, and overbearing parents?

“Senior year surpasses all previous levels of stress absolutely,” Max Stampa-Brown ’10 said.

There is an urban—or rather, suburban—legend that says that junior year is the most challenging year of high school. Parents continually preach that junior year grades are the most important. “Colleges only see your transcript up until 11th,” they whisper into the ears of their exhausted children.

These parents have obviously never met a first-quarter senior.

In regards to first semester, Will Hardy ’10 had only one goal in mind: “grades, grades, and more grades.”

Amidst the homecoming celebrations and final days of summer, seniors buckled down and worked harder than ever. While junior year is undoubtedly important, many 11th graders are unable to grasp the importance of the college process that lies just around the corner. But the beginning of twelfth grade presents students with the harsh reality that applications are due soon than they realized.

“First quarter I worked really hard,” Olivia Coe ’10 said. “I actually got the best grades I had ever gotten before.”

Students who apply to schools on an early decision or early action plan are often required to send first quarter grades into their college of choice. Many see this as an opportunity to make up for those one or two B’s or C’s left over from junior year, while others see first quarter as the last chance to prove how strong their grades are. To add an extra layer of stress, the end of first quarter happens to coincide with most early decision deadlines.

“I went into first semester knowing that it was my last chance to prove myself as a student and my goal was to simply impress as much as possible,” Seth Cadan ’10 said.

As December delivered both positive and negative news from early decision colleges, seniors have begun to brace themselves for second semester.

“Because I did not get in early decision, my midterm and semester grades matter just as much as the first quarters ones,” said Mombello. “I have to approach midterms strongly and know that after that I am basically finished.”

This final burst of energy comes at a high cost for many seniors. The utter exhaustion and anxiety of first semester burns students out and the sheer relief after midterms creates the infamous epidemic known as “senioritis.”

The term has often been celebrated by teenagers and frowned upon by teachers, as students tend to slack off and grades drop throughout second semester. While cutting classes and allowing grades to drop dramatically is obviously unacceptable, it can be argued that hard-working seniors deserve some breathing time after the traumatically stressful months of first semester.

“I’m not going to skip school, or get all C’s, but I am going to chill,” Adam Bangser ’10 said.

Whether it is for good or bad, a common attitude among students is that once accepted or applied to college, there is little left to do in high school.

“We are trained to work to get into college. We’re not just trying to get good grades and paying tutors and staying up late studying just so that our parents can hang our report cards on the refrigerator,” Coe said.

As regular decision applications have all been postmarked and the last midterm’s Scantron bubble has been penciled in, seniors can finally take a deep breath. It’s all over. The battle has been won. In a month or two, we’ll be basking in second semester glory and the treacherous fall will seem decades away—until April rolls around and the fruits of our labor will (hopefully) become apparent.