After conquering the AP classes with hours of homework and ACT/SAT testing and preparation that is junior year, entering into senior year seems as though it should be a breeze. Or so they say. The last year of high school is filled with memories, low stress, and a lasting legacy. Unfortunately, AP classes are still challenging and there’s a new battle to fight… college applications.

The battle begins with a seemingly endless search for the right top 10 colleges out of thousands of schools all over the nation. Then it continues with letters of recommendation, college essays, activity resumes, scholarship searching and essays, applying to individual programs, the list continues. So here’s the question, how do we fight off the senioritis that could already be hitting so that we can get everything done and still enjoy our year?

1. Make sure to manage your time. Yes, allow yourself to have fun and participate in sports and activities at FRHS while maybe even saving some time to watch the latest episode of The Walking Dead. But also ensure a little time every day to get your homework done and to break into college applications.

2. Get enough sleep. As we all know too well, when we don’t sleep, we lose our energy and the day packed with math equations, conditioning at practice, and a college fair now sounds too treacherous to handle. Simply by getting a good amount of sleep, we can get more done during the day and enjoy it all as we do it.

3. Use your off periods wisely. If you are a student that has 1st or 2nd period off, most definitely sleep in…I will not pretend that I would have motivation to wake up early to get stuff done. But students with 1 to 2 other off periods during the remainder of your school day and week, at least use a little of that time, even just 45 minutes a week, to break into applications or conquer that English homework.

4. Help your buddies. Personally, having a study group or working with a friend on complicated homework motivates me to work hard and finish it. Use each other to keep pushing through the workload and to get necessary stuff done faster so you have more time for the stuff that you enjoy doing.

5. Stay involved at FRHS. It’s very easy by this point in high school to be stressed out and tired of all of the activities that you have participated in the past. But senior year is your last opportunity to volunteer with your Key Club committee, win a meet with your Cross Country team, score the winning touchdown at the football game, and sing a solo in your choir. So don’t miss out on those moments, they are memories that you will have forever.

So when you feel that senioritis creeping in make sure to push through so that senior year can be the best year yet. Class of 2013, we’ve almost made it!