(June 3, 2003) — When my editor and I sat down to think of this story, something really struck me. I realized how often seniors ditch school, slack off in class, party, and essentially display the “symptoms” of senioritis. I can see why seniors do this. After all, the important academic items on their checklist have been crossed off: standardized testing, college entrance exams, college applications and acceptances, AP exams and senior projects. But will slacking off in class and ditching school this late in the year hurt seniors? The answer is yes. Their laziness results in academic failure. An important fact I would like to address is that colleges can still repeal their decisions if the grades shown on received applications from earlier in the year, are not maintained. So if a senior receives one of these repeal letters, where would he or she go? With the current educational budget crisis thanks to Gov. Gray Davis, community colleges are having to cut back up to 45 percent of their budget. It is now more difficult to transfer out from a community college to another university. The effects of these lackadaisical behaviors are evident in the long run. Another “symptom”of senioritis is breaking dress code. As the weather heats up into summertime, dress code violations have happened. Senior females display popular flip-flops and tank tops while the males turn to backless sandals and sweats. Although Clark dress code restricts all of these clothing items, the trend has a ripple effect throughout all the classes. With the frequent ditching and violation of dress code, alternative to suspension (ATS) punishments have happened. Senior english teacher Diana Connely commented that “regardless of how good the class is supposedly rumored to be, Senioritis strikes indiscriminantly. They just want to get out of here, and I understand.” Senioritis is not just a disease for seniors because as a junior, I, myself am noticing the symptoms in many younger classmen as well. Many seniors have just had enough with those endless projects, research papers, essays, standardized tests and exams. Maintaining a balance between play and work will do the trick. But as a word of advice, I would like to encourage the students at Clark to take precautions with their decisions as many consequences will catch up with them in the near future.