Senioritis: A crippling disease that strikes high school seniors. Symptoms include: laziness, an over excessive wearing of track pants, old athletic shirts, sweatpants, athletic shorts, and sweatshirts. Also features a lack of studying, repeated absences, and a generally dismissive attitude. The only known cure is a phenomenon known as graduation.

Sounds tempting right? But I guarantee you it won't sound as tempting when you're being called into your principals office weeks before graduation and they tell you that graduating may not be an option for you because of how much you have been, "slacking off" this year, and then you'll go into panic mode, rushing from one computer to the next trying to make up credits you didn't even know you needed, and trying to find the words to tell your parents that they might not be able to see their baby walk across the stage. So let me give you some advice to avoid your panic and your parents heartbreak.

1. Stay Organized

The biggest mistake you couldever make during ANY of your years throughout high school is becoming unorganized, and trust me it is very very easy to do. The first few weeks of school is all super neat, you look nice, you feel nice, your folders and notebooks are all in order, until you start to use them... And then next thing you know you have Chemistry papers in your Calculus folder, and then you're missing assignment due dates because you can't find your homework because instead of organizing your papers you just threw them in random folders or stuffed them inside your backpack then boom, you just completed the first step to going downhill.

2. Remember that even though it's senior year, it still counts.

YOUR COLLEGE IS WATCHING YOU!!!! I can't tell you how many times I've heard a high school senior tell you, "it's just a blow off year." or "Yeah, I took all blow off classes this year." Although you may be able to get away slacking off once in awhile, senior year is definitely not the year to show up once a week and not do any school work. A lot of seniors walk into the first day ready to go, but by the time they've been accepted into their colleges they go from a caring a little to not giving a damn. Don't get me wrong, yes, senior year is the most lenient of all the years, but this doesn't mean don't do your homework or don't go to class because even though you got accepted into the college of your dreams doesn't mean it's a guarantee, they can revoke your acceptance anytime they want. Some schools notice you're on honor-role and expect you to stay on there for the entire year, so if you want to avoid senioritis just remember that this year still counts, and be sure to stay on top of things because the last thing you want is to be, "unaccepted" into a college that you got accepted into.

3. Don't get caught up in the wrong crowd.

I'm not here to lecture you on drugs and alcohol because I know that no matter how many school assemblies you're forced to sit through, article's handed out for you to read, and the hour long talk you get from your parents every night you go out, that you're going to do it anyways. We're all going to do it, and the adults and all the parents aren't stupid. Our parents know that even when they tell you, "Listen, don't drink or smoke at the party tonight okay" and you look at them with your innocent face and nod and walk out the door with a backpack that your mom "thinks" is filled with clothes when it's really not, but before you walk out the door they'll say, "Call me if you need a ride" because they know. They don't want you to go out and party but they've gone to high school and they know how the parties are. So like I said, I'm not here to lecture you on alcohol and drug abuse because I'm sure we've all heard enough of it, but a little advice, don't be that person who doesn't give a s*** about school and goes out every night and weekend to get drunk or high or just goes out and parties ALL the time because once you're in a friend group that goes out every weekend, you're not going to want to stay in and study or stay in and watch a movie when you know you could be out partying doing better things. Just don't be that person, it won't ever get you far in life, and your reputation isn't likely to be so hot either. So go ahead, go out and party, enjoy yourself and make memories, but just don't get so caught up in it that you forget to get the important shit done.

4. You're only unpreparing yourself for college.

Senioritis is known for procrastination, so the more you avoid doing all your work, the more painful the slap in the face will be come your freshman year of college. Let me explain to you the difference between high school and college. High school, where you miss the due date of an assignment but can still turn it in the next day for full credit. College, you miss the due date for an assignment and you're screwed, down goes your grade. High school, you can half-ass your work and still get partial credit for "trying". College, where you half-ass work and get an F because college professors don't put up with that bullshit. High school, you're grades not doing so well so they pull you aside and help you work on getting it up. College, you're grades not doing so well? Sucks to be you, should've studied more. College is a slap in the face if you don't take the work in high school seriously. You need to learn to keep your grades up without the teacher pulling you aside to help motivate you, you need to learn how to study and write papers with full effort, rather than reading notes off Spark notes an hour before you have an essay due on Of Mice And Men. You need to learn to manage your time and do things independently because no one is going to hold your hand through college, the more you slack off your senior year of high school, the more you're unpreparing yourself for college.

5. You have all summer to slack off.

Sure, senior year seems like a good time to slack off but lets not forget you have all summer to go to crazy parties, stay up till 3am every night, get yourself into troubleand make insane unforgettable memories, so don't waste the time to be doing school work and focusing on your future to party and have, "too" much fun because as tempting as it sounds, it's way more fun once your graduated, so don't slack off and go out and do stuff that is nothing but bad news that can alter your future college or future plans is general. Save it for the summer, there will be plenty of grad parties to go party at and plenty of people to meet and plenty of things to do other than the responsibilities you have during the school year, so buckle down and finish senior year on a good note and then get ready to celebrate every day of the summer.