Senioritis symptoms are inevitable

Attention: An epidemic has been seeping through the halls of Lawrence High School, penetrating the minds of seniors in all classes from advanced placement English to public policy.
Symptoms include day-dreaming eyes, apathetic hand-raising, failing grades, and the irresistible urge to drive to school late, or perhaps, not even come at all. If you are experiencing any of these “fatal-until-you-realize-none-of-it-really-matters-any-more” symptoms, or know of any senior who is, please note: There is no cure.
But don’t fret, this is nothing new. Year after year, high school seniors, throughout the nation have been infected with what is called, “senioritis.” Like the common cold, the most you can do is wait it out and hope it goes away. Unfortunately, most students grapple with it until graduation.
Parents and teachers have tried their best to alleviate these symptoms, with medications such as groundings, detentions, and threats. However, over the years it has been discovered that in many cases, the side-effects to these remedies release a catalyst that counterproductively strengthens the presence of senioritis within these students.  
Many believe that senioritis surfaces after the students have reached the end of their “college process” and have been accepted into at least one of their selected schools. But how does this explain the cases in which some students experience senioritis before they have even completed their applications, or the sightings of infected students on the first week of school?

Is it possible that students can be infected as early as the ninth grade, but the disease, itself, remains dormant until their senior year?
After interviewing some fellow seniors, a new perspective was reached. “Maybe,” one senior, mused, that “Senioritis isn’t a disease at all, but a state of being ... a contagious mentality … We’re told from the moment we enter high school that our grades and success in school matters so that we can get into a good college. But now this time has passed, and therefore doing well in school has lost its meaning.”
Senioritis can shed light on the reason students try to do their best in school. For the majority, the motivation to get good grades and engage in after-school activities seems not to come from the desire to learn, but to look good on a sheet of paper — a college resume — and secure a future we hope we will want when it arrives.
We seniors can’t help but care a little less, because getting into a good college was the one motivator that made us challenge ourselves. But hey, after four years of hard work, maybe a more relaxed state of mind isn’t so terrible, as long as you are mindful, and don’t let it overtake you completely.