Senior Slide

In the game Chutes and Ladders, players try to reach the top of the gameboard by climbing ladders and avoiding slides that send them back toward the bottom. Unfortunately, in my game I have hit the notorious “senior slide.”

The third quarter of the school year may seem early talk about the senior slide, but it would be irresponsible not to acknowledge that it is upon me. I have spent too many late nights scrambling to finish homework assignments and power study for tests.

I normally do not become very stressed out with school work. But now each online homework assignment, each review sheet and each vocab quiz seems like a personal attack on my free time and a grand waste of my effort.

I understand that these assignments are designed to help me succeed. All the same, I resent the requirements and would much rather be using my time catching up on my favorite T.V. shows or reading up on my favorite sports teams.

I am not one to blow off my work altogether. I only procrastinate until I cannot put it off any longer. I still find time to cram in my entertainment along with my work—but often at the expense of sleep or relaxed mornings.

Seemingly every time I go to do homework, there is something more intriguing for me to do. It could be a Wild or Wolves game, an event at the high school, an offer to hang out or perhaps an episode of my favorite show Dexter. I have the habit of telling myself, “My homework can wait a little while longer, it’s only 10 or 11 or 12 o’clock.”

I have always viewed school as a place to prepare for college rather than a place to obtain vast amounts of knowledge. I certainly try to learn as much as I can in school and better myself in my time there but have always felt that school is just a platform to display my talents to universities.

It is frustrating to know that I have already been accepted to several of my top choices and that my effort in school no longer makes as significant a difference as before. It is especially irritating when teachers are not aware or sympathetic to the fact that they are teaching a senior class and that many of the students are there simply because it is required.

That anticipation and excitement have been building up over the last year as I have been preparing for this part of my life by taking ACTs, worrying over my grades and trying to find myself through the process.

Fortunately, my preparation was good enough and the result is all but decided. I am on my way to a high school victory, having reached my goal to get accepted into a university to study journalism.

Now, the nervousness and excitement have been replaced with a feeling of stagnancy. I am no longer making forward progress toward my goal of making it to the next level. At the same time, I am not allowed to reap the rewards of my effort.

I just want the inevitable result to become official on graduation day and to be able to celebrate the hard work I have put in. My graduation party will be the champagne shower that follows any significant victory—although there will be no actual champagne for me.

For now, I will try to find some sort of boost, a ladder if you will, to get me through to the end of this game. Or maybe it can wait—like my homework—a little while longer.