Senior year much more than pomp and circumstance

It's downright difficult, especially meeting those deadlines for college and scholarship applications.

By FERDIAN L. JAP
© St. Petersburg Times
published April 22, 2002

SEMINOLE -- You've been counting down to this moment all year, but now there are only six weeks left until high school graduation, so how do you feel?

Excited, of course, and happy that the end of this very hard and stressful year is near, according to some Osceola High School members of the Class of 2002.

Most people look forward to their senior year, thinking it will be a breeze. But once the year begins to pass, suddenly all the weight of the world seems to be on seniors.

Take those deadlines for college and scholarship applications. Larry Finn, 16, an Osceola senior, says the struggle to apply on time is "frustrating, but the sheer amount of paperwork was worse than the deadlines." Most applications are complicated and can seem to take forever to complete, especially the ones that require essays. Senior John Magulick, 17, applied to five colleges and had to write essays for each one. It is tough "trying to manage time between school and my job to meet all the deadlines," he said..

Add to the pressure of deadlines the battery of standardized tests leading up to the applications, including the SAT, ACT, CPT, CLEP and AP exams. "Luckily, I took the SAT in my junior year, leaving only AP tests for my senior year, says Finn.

Senior Stephen Pett, 16, found a different way to deal with the tests. "I just got a lot of sleep and I got a 1400 on the SAT," he says. He is looking forward to graduation, because "it is like a rite of passage; it will be a moving time."

But time is not moving fast now. "Second semester takes so long," says Magulick. The anticipation of the end of school "makes the days seem even longer."

So the countdown continues. As seniors at Osceola and other high schools in the Tampa Bay area head toward graduation, the thought of the big day brings mixed emotions, too.

"It will be the last time I see most of my friends," says Finn.

- Ferdian L. Jap, a senior at Osceola High School in Seminole, has this advice for underclassmen: Do not procrastinate with your college and scholarship applications!

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