Every year countless teens across the nation are affected by a terrifying disease. It is known to cause sluggishness, lack of interest in anything, and elongated naps in class. Its common name: senioritis. The causes of this ailment are not specifically known, but it is hypothesized that it is directly related to impending graduation and acceptance into colleges.

As far as I can tell, 99 percent of high school seniors get a case of senioritis. Whether mild, extreme, or even misdiagnosed as "slacking," it is hard to resist the allure of this contagion.

By my junior year, it was clear that I was not the hardest-working student in my class, and I became terrified of catching senioritis this year.

Entering senior year, I kept checking myself for the warning signs: staying up late for no reason, falling asleep in class, turning in homework weeks after it was due (if at all), and ultimately just not caring.

But for all the warnings that I was given about slacking off second semester, I think that senioritis is a little misunderstood. Everyone says that it is the worst thing that can happen, and if you succumb to it you will get horrible grades, your teachers will hate you, and any college that accepted what they thought was a hard-working student in the fall will kick you out when they get your latest report card.

My theory is that the legend of the horrible side effects of senioritis were created to scare all the little children out there into being perfect and well-behaved all the way up to graduation.

What really happens is that, no, you're probably not going to be as diligent a student as you were subbie year, but everyone understands that. The teachers have usually taught long enough to recognize that everyone is thoroughly fed up with high school by the time they are in their last semester, and they tend to not necessarily assign less homework, but to spread it out or condense it according to what the students can realistically accomplish.

After the stress of applying to colleges and the nail-biting of waiting to hear a response, everyone deserves a break. And senioritis and some very nice teachers help to give us just that. Personally, I have found myself thoroughly enjoying almost everything about my last semester at Uni: having seniority, being able to use whatever free time I have in a fun way, getting accepted to college, and many other enjoyable little details of being a senior.

So no matter what anyone says about senioritis, if I didn't have a moderate case I would constantly be stressing about school and would find very little to make me happy about my last semester. It's very comforting that instead of complaining to my younger friends about how slacking off senior year ruined my life, I calmly and gently tell them that their time will come and they will one day possess all the freedoms that I do now.