Finish Strong: A Word for High School Seniors and their Parents

We often hear stories about students who start their senior year fairly strongly, only to fall apart in the final few weeks of schools.

These students entered senior year needing just a few credits – often a single English, social studies and math class – in order to graduate. The year starts off relatively well, and the student is focused on finishing high school and moving into the adult world.

But some time in the spring, the student’s attention turns to other interests. There is the prom, spring dances, maybe even a senior skip day or two. The student may become more focused on a part-time job than on academic work. Students begin to behave as though the school year is already over – like they have already earned the right to graduate, when in reality they have not.

Maybe there is a big senior research paper due, or a mandatory community service project that requires a sizeable paper and a large number of service hours.

And the work doesn’t get done, for one reason or another.

Next thing you know, the student is not graduating with classmates. And often, once the high school graduation ceremony is no longer an incentive, students end up not graduating from high school at all.

If they are lucky, they may return to earn a high school diploma later – possibly through a GED or other alternative education option.

But their lives are dramatically affected by a few months of slacking.

So, our message to high school seniors and their families during these waning days of the school year is simple: Finish well. Now is most certainly not the time to lose focus or give up. A high school graduation is a basic requirement for success in our society today. Without it, your options are severely limited.

Finish well, so that at your high school graduation you can happily say, “G, double O, D, J-O-B! Good job, good job!”