As we enter second semester, our seniors (and their parents) will soon be finalizing post high school plans. Speaking from personal experience, this can be a very emotional and stressful time for both. Between waiting to hear about college acceptance, taking SATs and keeping grades up, many seniors can easily experience heightened levels of anxiety.
Additionally, once seniors have been "accepted" into colleges, many become increasingly bored with their school year and tend to "slack off." Bad idea. With the college admission process become more and more competitive, many schools withdraw acceptance letters if a student's final grade report reflects a lack of effort at the end.
As parents, we may be tempted to increase our "motivational speeches" with our children in our attempt to keep them on track. Our children sometimes may translate our attempts to help them as increased pressure and may react negatively to our guidance. An article I recently read summed up this dynamic best by stating, "Remember that during this time, your children don't hate you. They are afraid of leaving. Try to stay calm at all times."
With all the pressure that our seniors face, they can easily forget to live in the present moment and enjoy their last days of high school. Between senior semi, senior banquet, senior prom and graduation, ELHS offers many opportunities for our 12th graders to bask in the celebration of all their hard work thus far. To all our seniors...stay focused, be safe and have fun. To all our senior parents...hang in there and stay calm. I look forward to celebrating graduation day with this great group of young adults and their families.
