Many seniors are finding out that their senior year isn’t as easy as everyone told them it would be. Smooth sailing? Yeah, right. There are so many things that a senior has to focus on, and much of it goes outside the boundaries of high school. It’s truly a lot.

However, after asking teachers, counselors, and other members of the faculty for their insight, I’ve managed to compile a comprehensive guide to surviving the second semester.

In your second semester, your main goals will be: Determining your future path, maintaining your grades, and preparing for graduation.

A major part of the second semester of your senior year will be spent on determining your future path. Regardless of whether that’s going to college, going straight into the workforce, or anything else

If you want to move on to a new chapter of your life, college is the perfect way to do so. There are plenty of pros and cons to college, and each person will have to weigh them on their own.

An overview of the pros are: longer time to determine future career, almost required for any corporate jobs, will allow you to make lifelong friends, and will provide you with great experiences that will help you in all aspects of life.

An overview of the cons are: very expensive, depending on career it may take upwards of 4 years to complete, you may have to live extremely frugally for a long period of time, and a degree may not even land you a job you want.

If you plan on going to college, you will want to be looking towards completing your FAFSA, looking at colleges, filling out applications, and looking for as many scholarships as possible.

Once you start applying to colleges, there are plenty of tools to make it as easy as possible. Caitlin Schnurrenberger, Lakeview’s school counselor for seniors and the go-to source of college related questions recommends Commonapp, saying, “The Common App is a great solution if you are applying to multiple schools and I encourage students to use this Commonapp allows you to fill out one, large, application.”

There are thousands of scholarships available for almost anybody to grab, and these can range from a $100 scholarship for having the best hair, to potentially thousands of dollars for being a star athlete.

Michael Detoro, our assistant principal, shared, “Most local scholarship money is divvied out during the second semester. Because of that, I would say it’s easier to find scholarships that fit your needs during the second semester.” This means that scholarships will be much easier to attain for all students.

Schnurrenberger touched on the topic, too, and recommended her online document with every imaginable resource you would need to start applying for scholarships. Class of 2023 Scholarships

An outstanding website to help you discover scholarships is Scholarships.com. This website provides you with plenty of information regarding scholarships nearby, and ones nationwide.

However, going to college isn’t the only option. Graduating high school and going straight into the workforce is a very sustainable option for plenty of people. However, just like with college, there are plenty of pros and cons.

The overview of the pros are: No debt or loans to pay off from college, plenty of hands-on jobs readily available, and depending on the field you may never run out of work.

The overview of the cons are: You may still have to get an education depending on career, there are much smaller wages for certain fields, and many of the jobs may be labor intensive.

If you do plan on entering the workforce, it’s likely that you’re already focusing on what field or job you’re interested in. If not, however, then you certainly want to start looking into trade skill jobs, as the demand for them is steadily rising. 

Once you find the field that intrigues you the most, it would be a great idea to start researching and even applying to jobs that relate to it. Steadily, you will gain more experience and knowledge, and you may potentially be able to start your own business and become self employed.

Though, while you focus on your future, make sure you don’t forget what’s currently happening! It’s easy for seniors to contract a deadly case of senioritis. 

Detoro, who’s had much experience with seniors, tells us that, “…the vast majority of our seniors do equally as well or better in the second semester in comparison to the first.” Great job, Lakeview! Let’s make sure this stays.

If you let your grades slip, it could harm your future plans. There have been cases of students with accepted applications and scholarships having them stripped from them due to their failing grades in the final two quarters of their high school career. There have even been cases of students losing their valedictorian status due to failing grades.

Though, it’s possible to cure yourself, and even avoid it altogether. Seniors will need to make sure that they stay on top of their schoolwork. There are plenty of ways to make sure you’re remaining on top of your game. It’s easy to keep a daily agenda of your schoolwork for the day. On top of that, it’s imperative that you allot yourself enough time each day to complete any assignments you may have.

Senior English teacher Carrie Schlatt, who’s one of the longest working teachers in the building shares her expertise and advises, “…all students to have good time management skills. I suggest staying on-task during class, and utilizing study halls if applicable. In addition, I would suggest making a schedule to avoid procrastinating working on larger projects which need to be completed outside of class.”

Finally, the last thing to focus on is graduation. The finale to an eventful school year. Though, as with everything else in your senior year, there’s a lot you need to do to prepare for it. When asked, Schnurrenberger revealed that prior to graduation, a student “needs to purchase a cap and gown for the graduation ceremony.”

These are required to graduate, and can be purchased through Jostens.com. While on the website, it would be a great idea to invest in a yearbook to memorialize your final year of high school.

There’s more, though, as Schnurrenberger reminds students that they must turn in “…a $10 Senior Fee” before they are allowed to graduate. This fee will cover copies and mailings of transcripts to an unlimited number of schools or employers for one full year. 

After all of these steps have been taken, seniors can finally rest easy knowing that they’ll have prepared as much as they can for life post high school.