If you’ve spent any amount of time around seniors recently, I’m sure you’ve heard the phrase, “Man, senioritis is hitting me hard.” It’s a common trend among high school seniors who are ready to move on.

Senioritis is not an equal-opportunity mentality. Some seniors are struggling more than others. I have classmates who attend one, maybe two, class periods a week, just hoping to survive.

Others are struggling, but to a lesser extent. Take me for example. It’s Sunday afternoon, and I’m writing a column that I really could’ve and should’ve had done on Friday. Whoops. For seniors like me, at the end of the day, the work is done before the final deadline, but we get pretty close to that deadline.

Guys, we need to stop this mentality. Sure, we’re nearing the end of our high school careers and can slack off and still graduate, but for many of us, we still have at least four years of school left. Even if you’re not planning on going to school, you’re probably going to have a job. Either way, slacking off will not be an option.

By having a senioritis mentality, you are teaching yourself that it’s okay to slack off; that you can succeed even while slacking off. News flash: you can’t. High school is one thing. We all know that at times, public education is a joke, especially in Kansas. You may not be able to reach high expectations by slacking in high school, but you should be able to graduate.

In college, you won’t be able to do that. Every college-aged kid I’ve talked to recently has stressed just how much work you have to do in college. “Start your work early.” “Plan studying time.” “Remember, you’re a student first.” If we come in with a senioritis mindset, we’re just setting ourselves up for trouble.

We can’t just jump straight to college, though. As of my writing this, we have six weeks until graduation. We owe it to ourselves, our teachers, our fellow students and the organizations we are a part of to push through and finish strong.

For me, it’d be easy to slack off with The Mentor. We already have an Editor-in-Chief for next year, and I could pass more of my duties over to her by claiming it’s preparing her. To me, this seems stupid. I owe it to myself to finish this project I’ve led, I owe it to my teacher who picked me to prove her right and I owe it to all of you to continue to provide accurate coverage of Manhattan High.

Instead of having a self-centered mentality, only looking out for my interests, I’m challenging myself and all of my fellow seniors to have a school-centered mentality.

We’re nearing the end of our time at Manhattan High. Whether you’ve loved it, hated it or are somewhere in between, this time at MHS has changed you and impacted you. I challenge you, in your last six weeks here, to go out and make sure you leave this school better than it was when you came. In your last bit of time as an Indian, make a difference in this school.