(June 11, 2004) — So, how many hours of sleep did you get last night?” some seniors asked their friends as they walked down the hall during the last two weeks before the senior project oral boards day, May 22, 2004. The responses to this question were mixed. While some seniors got at least eight hours of sleep, others did not sleep at all on the night prior to the day of their in-class practice presentations. Since not every senior suffered from the chronic disease of procrastination, it is clear that procrastination is a choice rather than an action that the senior project can force upon students. On the contrary, the senior project was designed to cure senioritis, a disease that is nearly impossible to prevent, which even the most diligent student is not immune to. Besides from just keeping students occupied during senior year, the senior project also provoked seniors to acquire at least one new skill. One requirement of the senior project was that seniors had to pick a topic or an activity that they knew nothing about. Since students were allowed to conduct their project on a variety of activities ranging from teaching at an elementary school to something as random as making chain mail, the learning curve taken for the whole senior class as a whole was enormous. Before seniors began to do their fieldwork, they were also advised to pick a project that interested them and perhaps even have fun doing. Thus, although the senior project was a school assignment, it could have been more recreational than dull. The senior project also enforced discipline, commitment and the ability to manage time, qualities which are needed in college and in the real world. When it comes to learning something new, as fun as that something may be, an average person tends to lose interest throughout the learning process. The senior project, however, forced students to see their interest through. At least 15 hours must be put into completing the final product and its corresponding fieldwork in order for students to get a passing grade and hence, graduate. With only a course of a year to complete these 15 hours for a C and many more hours in order to get an A or a B, a project that has already been started cannot be deserted due to the lack of interest. When students eventually finished their project, however, this discipline and commitment created a sense of pride and accomplishment. In seeing through their project, seniors often gain more self-confidence, patience and persistence. The old adage “nothing worth it is ever easy to achieve” is trite for a reason. Consistently, this phrase has proved to be a universal truth. Thus, although other high school students from Glendale, Hoover and Crescenta Valley are not required to conduct a senior project, students at Clark should not complain about the work bestowed upon them throughout senior year. Students may argue that time should be spent solely on completing college applications, but doing college applications does not take an entire school year. After the first semester, then, students are practically left with nothing to do and ditching commences or perhaps increases. For the other high schools in the Glendale Unified School District, since students feel that they apparently have nothing to do after the first semester, attendance records are very poor throughout the year and especially throughout the second semester. When students decide not to show up to class, the district loses money for each absence, a negative consequence that might lead the good educational reputation of GUSD down a rapid spiral. If this happens, no one will want to buy houses around the Glendale and La Crescenta areas and everyone will be poor. If students want to have the kind of fun where they go out with friends and party, that is the purpose of three months of summer. As time-consuming and difficult the senior project might have been, Clark seniors will most likely find their summer before college that much more worth it and meaningful knowing that they have earned it after a difficult last year.