Second semester of senior year is a difficult time to motivate. With college responses coming out and grades not mattering the same way they did before, seniors at O’Dowd have been looking for different ways to get themselves to work hard for their last stretch of high school. 

For one, Bishop O’Dowd gives an incentive for seniors to keep their grades up. They offer to all seniors who get an A in their class, an opportunity to miss out on the final exam. Which causes many seniors to work harder and not have to take their finals at the end of the year with the rest of the class. 

Although that incentive is a big deal and definitely motivates students to keep up their work and not slump during their last semester. Some students have offered their knowledge on how they have kept up the good work: Ian Nasif ‘24 said, “Although these grades don’t ultimately matter for my college resume, I am still working hard for myself and for my family.” 

Another senior Hailey Laskin ‘24 says, “I continue working at school because of all the fun senior activities and the social aspect of school. Even though it isn’t completely benefiting my grades, the fact that I show up to school to bond with my classmates causes me to work harder at school.” The social aspect of O’Dowd really gets people to want to go to school, which ultimately is a big deal with seniors struggling to want to get to school. 

Bella Makeig ‘24 also responded, noting, “The stress of having work continues to motivate me even in senior year. I don’t like having to catch up on work, even if it doesn’t matter as much.” The motivation of stress is a huge factor throughout all of high school. Even in senior year it is helping get people to stay on track and work hard. 

Lastly, Ava Harrison ‘24 comments, “Since I play sports there isn’t a lot of time in my schedule to get work done so staying on stop of my work and not getting behind motivates me to work harder. I don’t like having homework so getting all the work done beforehand makes my life so much easier.” Many students participate in sports and deal with similar issues. Ava’s example shows that a weekend without homework motivates students to work even harder. 

Overall, everyone has a different way of coping with senior slump season and all these methods are beneficial toward their journey to graduation. Even if your way of coping is different it doesn’t mean you aren’t on the right track. Working hard is very important during this last stretch and even if it doesn’t impact your ability to get into college, it can benefit your mind.