By Lauren Kee ’24 Editor-in-Chief of the 117th Masthead
Senioritis is real. When senior spring comes around, the drudgery of hiking up the hill to class in the morning, opening my textbook to study for a test, and lifting a finger for anything is painful. I’m a burnt-out senior ready to retire. But, that’s all the more reason to switch things up and take advantage of every minute of the ticking clock during my final two months on campus.
Trying new things can dispel the mundane routines of life at Choate. Instead of using an afternoon activity exemption to return to my room for a nap or drag myself to the library to get ahead on homework, I skip to rehearsal with my friends, who are also in the musical for the first time. As a member of the ensemble, I bourée around the stage as a bird, gallop across as a horse, and wiggle my way on as a pig. Being in the cast of a Choate theater production was a bucket list item I got to check off this spring.
This term, I’ve also found a renewed sense of purpose in pursuing ambitious goals. Following the transition of leadership for clubs and organizations, time and energy returned to me, propelling me to prepare for a senior recital. As an underclassman, I watched in awe as previous seniors poured their souls into 30 minutes of virtuosic repertoire, dreaming of being in their place one day. The hours in the practice room, which had felt like a dungeon when I had hundreds of looming deadlines, flew by as I practiced five of my favorite percussion pieces to share with everyone who has impacted me at Choate. I rekindled an extinguished love for music and accomplished what I thought was impossible.
As a senior, I feel that I have nothing to lose by saying yes to everything. Am I down for a sleepover at a day student’s house? Yes! I can’t use editing for The Choate News as an excuse to say no. Perform “The Odyssey” in Greek at School Meeting? Yes! Hold a spoon on my nose with one hand and a water-squirting beach toy in the other for some senior assassin fun? Yes!
Perhaps I’ll relearn how to ride a bike (I did indeed forget), learn how to ice skate and bake some delectable caramel chocolate brownies as a consolation prize for my poor coordination. What’s the harm in some entertainment, mischief, and the occasional sprinkle of public humiliation?
While some say that senior spring is finally the time to let go of all purpose and responsibility, succumbing to this notion is doing myself an injustice. It is my last chance to savor the opportunities and relationships I have at Choate. I believe that the cure to senioritis is to use my newfound time and energy to find the things and people that put a smile on my face and pursue everything I never got to do before. In doing so, I know that I can walk the stage at commencement with no regrets.
