Arrowhead Seniors Endure Their Last Year of High School

In a time of lasts—last first day, last Homecoming, last soccer game.

“[My first month of school] could be going worse,” says Arrowhead senior Cole Treml. “I’m just not trying as hard as I should this year.”

Treml says while his motivation is lacking this year, he enjoys most of his classes. He says everything besides his two math classes is “really easy.”

“My favorite teacher this year has [to] be either [Dave] Olenchek or [James] Hessler,” Treml says. “Olenchek because he has such a dry sense of humor and he makes good puns, and Hessler because I learn in his class, like actually learn things.”

Despite the lack of motivation Treml has this year, he says he still finds time to complete his homework on Sunday nights.

“I have about 40 minutes of homework every night, but I don’t get around to doing my homework until the very last minute, so Sunday nights I do like two hours of homework,” says Treml.

The Arrowhead High School Homework Departments Guidelines and Practices states that the homework policy varies from class to class. In most classes, homework is expected to be completed on time, and late or missing homework is docked points for each day that it’s late.

Treml says that Senioritis—”the supposed affliction of students in their final year of high school or college, characterized by a decline in motivation or performance,” according to www.dictionary.com—started before he even became a senior.

“[Senioritis] kicked in last year when it didn’t count, but this year it’s going into full overdrive,” Treml says.

For senior Noah Klockow, the first month of senior year has gone by slowly, but also fast at the same time.

“We’re seniors. I can’t get over that…[It]is kind [of] good because it makes you branch off,” Klockow says.

For academics, Klockow says he faces the same lack of motivation as Treml, however he is apprehensive about the future.

“We finished the ACT and all that junk already last year, so we don’t need to worry as much. I feel like senior year is [going to] get a little stressful pretty soon, because of college and figuring out what you [want to]do after high school, but still focusing on keeping your grades up,” says Klockow.

Klockow says his school work is minimal, but that’s mainly because he hasn’t been doing much.

“It’s because I’m a senior and I have senioritis already. I just [want to] graduate already,” Klockow says.

Senior Kelly Seibert says she has a lot of school work this year, and class work, coupled with her job at Kohl’s as well as college applications. She says her life this year is “really busy.”

“This year I have a lot of homework, probably two hours a night. Modern [Literature] has a lot of homework, but it’s mostly just reading, which is super time-consuming. I tend to lose most of my time on weekends just because I have so much work. My tests and quizzes are going a lot worse than last year. I guess I just don’t care as much,” says Seibert.

“[This year is] really stressful. I’m sleep deprived, but I have good, chill teachers, so that helps. I like [Chris] Skaros a lot. He’s really funny and keeps me engaged in class. I have way too much [homework], especially from Sociology…I have homework every day, on average probably two hours. That’s too much work, and don’t even get me started on quizzes and tests. I truly believe that all teachers come together and assign all the tests in the same week,” says senior Marivelyz Caldero.

According to Klockow, the teachers are more laid back towards senior students, even if the amount of homework stayed the same.

“I feel like teachers are more mellow this year, they aren’t all up in your business as much as they were last year, [be]cause we’re basically done with high school,” says Klockow.

“[Kari] Sagal is my favorite teacher. She knows what she’s doing and how to get everyone to work together,” says Seibert.

Another thing that helps students stay motivated are the classes themselves. A student that doesn’t like his or her class won’t try as hard to succeed in that class, according to www.giftedandtalented.com

“My favorite class this year is college accounting, because it’s something that’s important for my future plans,” says Seibert.

“November 1 is an application deadline for many colleges,” according to Guidance counselor Angela Rodenkirch.

“I’m applying for colleges right now, but I don’t know what teachers to ask for recommendations and stuff. I’m just done, it sucks. My workload sucks too. I’m in four AP classes, so I get a lot of homework. A lot,” says senior Kyle O’Connor.

“I got accepted into Xavier,” Klockow says.

“Something that really helps motivate me to get my work done and actively participate in school is probably my teachers. If I like the teacher I have, I will try harder in that class.” says senior Kenzie Luterbach.