The arrival of senior year can be interpreted in many ways. For some, senior year symbolizes the last high school year until “freedom”, one step closer to moving out and starting fresh. Not only does the year entail liberty for high school students, senior year primarily means the easiest year grade-wise is ahead, where seniors all over experience early symptoms of the “Senioritis” phenomenon. But does senior year truly live up to its reputation?

As senior students prepare themselves for enduring the long-lasting and difficult college application process, many struggle to maintain order in the chaos that senior year already brings, on top of their stress to successfully move into the next chapter of their lives.

With a grand total of 15 scheduled dances in less than nine months, loads of homework still each night, college visits/applications to deal with, and maintaining a fun and memorable last year, seniors at Highland Park High School have a lot on their plates. This doesn’t even include seniors like Jillian Ellis, who are involved in multiple clubs and organizations on top of their senior year duties.

“Yes, I would say this year has been stressful so far because I have many college applications to do, lots of homework, while also involved in senior internship that just started. I also have to come to Belles in the morning so I can’t go in for tutorials… so it gets very stressful!” Ellis said.

When asked what her toughest adjustment into this year has been so far, Ellis said, “Probably just balancing everything, and since I have a lot more freedom now I have to learn to manage my time more.”

Ellis isn’t the only senior finding it difficult to maintain a healthy balance between finishing all daily homework as well as efficiently helping in extracurriculars. Senior Patrick Walker, a student involved in Student Council, Engineering Club, and Highland Park Presbyterian activities, discussed his heavy workload so far this year.

“Schoolwork [has kept him busiest], by a long shot. It has been BRUTAL. AP English 4 has been sorta whipping me, and I thought Aquatics would be a blow-off class but Mrs. BBG has kept us really busy,” Walker said.

Walker understands the importance of setting goals and deadlines for creating a more efficient way of breezing through the rest of the year.

“I want to be done with all my college applications by Thanksgiving and know sorta where I’m going by then.

With the contrasting fight between balancing schoolwork, extracurriculars, and making the most of senior year, the students of Highland Park have a lot of time management to figure out throughout the rest of the school year before they catch Senioritis.