Dispelling the Second Semester Senior Myth

Ah, to be a second semester senior! Nothing but fun in the sun all day long. Attending class? Who cares. Grades? Whatever, I’ve already been accepted to college.

Wrong. In fact, you couldn’t be more wrong.

My second semester as a senior was harder than my first semester, even though I had to complete my college applications. Not only did I have AP exams, but for some reason all the teachers got together to ruin our short-lived second semester lives.

Grades still count, no matter what people say. The quintessential second semester senior doesn’t do homework. They sit on the quad. All day, everyday. Not anymore they don’t. Get a bad grade and the college that previously accepted you will rescind its admission. The chance of being dropped from your dream college is a philosophy that teachers obsess about. They force you to live it, breath it, feel the clawing tendrils defile the pure organs of your body like second hand cigarette smoke.

Second semester contains some of the most stressful memories I hold in my memory box, including, my very last week of high school. My last Monday, my last blockdays, my last Friday, and I am stressing, not about the emotional breakup, but because of the homework. I have a final on the last day of school. Let me repeat myself: on my very last day at Paly high school, I have to take a final.

What happened to the image that got me through the dreary days of first semester? What happened to sunning yourself during prep, going home and not doing anything, playing whiffle-ball in class? Why must teachers dangle the already stressful notion of not going to college in front of you like the carrot in front of the donkey. Or maybe it’s the stick behind the rear.

What’s done is done and I hold no grudges; however, this myth of second semester seniors must end; once I found out my life would not be filled with sun and fun, a little part of me died, the last light flickered, dimmed, and went black in a world of dismay.