Uh oh… It looks like there’s a plague going around MCLA.

No, I’m not talking about COVID. Or a case of food poisoning after eating some questionable dining hall food. Not even mold poisoning from spending a little too much time at Mark Hopkins. This plague is more contagious and even harder to be cured of, although it seems to only be affecting one class. It’s safe to say that the class of 2023 can officially be diagnosed with Senioritis.

What is Senioritis, you might ask? It is a disease plaguing college seniors all over the country, with symptoms that include procrastination, laziness, academic burnout, and lack of motivation. Students with Senioritis may also experience a fear of the future, and anxiety surrounding the thought of graduating college and having to enter the “real world.”

Although Senioritis makes its rounds every year, this year’s senior class seems to be particularly impacted by it. This could be due to the impact of the pandemic on this class, who only had one full “normal” semester before being sent home in Spring 2020. Our entire college experience has been defined by COVID, and now that we’ve finally begun to reach a sense of normalcy and be able to have a semi-regular college experience, our time is almost up.

We’re all aware of the fact that our college experience is drawing to a close, and are experiencing so many “lasts,” such as last season playing a sport, last performance in the theatre department or Dance Company, last Halloween on campus, last time taking a class with your favorite professor, among many other experiences.

“Senioritis is terrible because you feel as though you’ve done the same essays, projects, and routines so many times over the last couple of years that it starts to get repetitive,” said Macayla Flanigan ‘23. “College is an intense few years and when you’re so close to the end it’s hard to keep up momentum.”

“Senioritis is definitely starting to kick in even though it’s only been two months,” said Emily Hendricks ‘23. “I think that just knowing that you have one semester left is making us less motivated to do our schoolwork and attend classes. We also want to spend time with our friends because this is our last year together before we go our separate ways.”

Here at The Beacon, the majority of our staff are seniors, and it seems we’ve all come down with a case of Senioritis. I wish that I could give you a step-by-step tutorial on how to fight off the symptoms of Senioritis, but considering I procrastinated writing this editorial until the day of my deadline, I might not be the most qualified person to give that advice.

But I will say this: I know firsthand that senior year is tough, but just remember to try your best to finish strong. We’ve had a crazy college journey so far, but it’s not over yet, so just make the most of your time left here and remember that it will all be worth it once you have that degree.