The last semester of high school has started, and for ¾ of the school, it’s just another semester of tedious work and late nights. But for the class of 2017, it’s the last few months of coming to Rocklin High every morning and seeing the same familiar faces they have for years. Their high school career will be coming to a close in just five short months, and there are some conflicting emotions that come with it.

Most seniors have mixed feelings about the end of high school. They are enthusiastic about a new start, but they are also nervous and sad about leaving their long time friends.

Ellie Russ sums it up perfectly when she states that she feels, “excited and ready….but [she] also feel[s] sad about leaving.”

Allison McLain is also one of many seniors that has a multitude of emotions entering her last semester.

“I cannot wait to graduate and make new memories, but I am also sad to leave my friends and the great memories that I have already made,” says Allison.

As for the workload that comes along with the last semester, seniors are being hit with the well-known, demotivating illness known as “senioritis”.

Senioritis sprouts from the feeling of laziness and lethargy that accompanies the last year of high school. Students are stressed about college, but don’t have the energy to work as hard due to it being so close to the end.

“I do most of my homework at the last minute, or I turn it in late, or I don’t do it, and when I get home, even though I have more time than I did in years past, it is very hard to get myself to do the homework I need to do to succeed,” Allison adds.

As Nicole Cartan puts it, senioritis is, “not wanting to do literally anything.”

She says she wants to fill her time doing anything other than school related work.

Some seniors find it hard to maintain a balance between extracurricular activities and their schoolwork. Senioritis is definitely starting to hit Conor Whitelaw.

“I just feel lazy and not really inclined to do anything,” he says. Conor doesn’t currently have a job, but with choir, swim, club water polo and a full eight class schedule, he says it can be hard to keep up sometimes.

Quinton McNeely, on the other hand, is “ready to move on and meet new people.” He has a job outside of school at Habitat for Humanity, but aside from the fact that he is not motivated to do homework, he doesn’t really find it hard to keep up.

Overall, between the lack of motivation and the frenzy of mixed emotions, seniors are finding it difficult to keep up with their final semester of high school.