We are all familiar with the infamous outbreak of senioritis that 100 percent of high school seniors get…but not many people are conscious of another disease that hits high schoolers a year earlier, junioritis.

Junioritis is not to be confused with its senior counterpart, though, because, to be quite honest, they are polar opposites. Junioritis can best be described as an overwhelming level of stress to the point where your body cannot function properly.

Junior year is hectic and nobody can tell you otherwise. Alongside the sudden increase of workload are college visits (which are more stressful than they seem), studying for standardized tests, and the dreaded Junior Research Paper. When you take a step back and put everything into perspective, you cannot blame a single junior for making themselves susceptible to junioritis.

Speaking for my entire form which is nearly into its second month of eleventh grade, I can say that junioritis has hit and it has hit hard. Trying to balance APs, sports, and a mildly acceptable social life has already gotten to the best of us to the point where more hair than usual is falling out of our heads, coffee is our best friend and naps have never felt quite so wonderful.

The symptoms first arrived though the summer going into my junior year. When I told an incalculable number of adults what grade I was going into and when everybody who had gone through junior already (my brothers in particular) had told me to brace myself. I got stressed, and that sat with me all summer long. Come time for school to resume, my blood pressure was probably severely high.

Symptoms may include:

·         Under-eye bags

·         Breakouts

·         Sweating

·         Extreme sleepiness

·         Caffeine dependency

·         Hair loss

·         Frustration

As for the cure, I obviously haven’t discovered it yet as I am one of the disease’s weakest victims, but I might as well share some advice I have been prescribed: take a deep breath—everything can be done. But do not try to get everything done in one sitting. When you feel your symptoms resurfacing, stop. Take the dog for a walk, drink some tea, do sun salutations or scream into a pillow.

I am not ashamed that I have periodically collapsed under the influence of junioritis. I guess it is just something natural that all of us juniors must learn to deal with. The fact is this is junior year, so we better get used to it.

– Sydney Yonack