Stress of Senior Year

     The senior year is the year that everyone looks forward to. They look forward to getting out of their house and living on their own. It is the year that seniors are counting down the days to graduation. Senior year is known to be the year of all the fun. Little do non-seniors know that it is actually one of the most stressful years.

     Senior year is the year seniors have to start looking for colleges. They have to know what they are going to do with their future. It is also the year that they have to start filling out scholarships and trying to find a way to get money for college. 

     Senior, Patrick Rust says, that he feels like the most stressful part of senior year is deciding on a college and where to spend the next four years of life. He feels that he is the most stressed out when it comes to scholarship deadlines. 

     Senior, Madison Cogdill says she is most stressed when she doesn't feel like she has enough time to give her work her best. She said that she never has enough time to do scholarships because teachers expect seniors to take high level classes with homework and have a job and still somehow fit scholarships in with all of it. She suggested that it would help us relieve some of the stress if Chadron had a college readiness class and had a scholarship block instead of taking another class.
     Guidance Counselor, Mrs. Watson believes there is never enough time for scholarships. She stated, "It is very important to prioritize, or find a day that works in your schedule and do the work then." She believes if student takes a couple hours a week to schedule out a scholarship time at max, they can get many done. They should make the time to do them and actually do them, and put their phones away and focus.
     Mrs. Watson says that senior year is "absolutely stressful" because making decisions is very taxing, and the students don't realize it until they are in it and making those life choices. It is also the first time as a young adult that their parents and other adults can't make the decision for them. The reason she feels like it is the most stressful is because there are so many choices to make and many things that the students would like to do in just a short amount of time. Trying to narrow it down to one choice, but knowing at the end of the day that it is only a choice for a year can help. She believes that seniors are the most stressed around prom, baccalaureate, and honors night.