Senioritis is an issue a lot of seniors go through – losing motivation and watching their performance degrade. However, graduation encourages seniors to finish high school on a strong note. Here’s how five seniors have pushed forward.

Marcus “Saint” Richardson is a student athlete who actively commits to Bellaire’s active spirit. But he says many people don’t realize the toll that athletics and academics can cause on students.

“I’m not saying it’s a different type of mental health between being a regular student and a

student-athlete, but I feel like student-athletes mental health isn’t as good and is overlooked,” Richardson said. “Coaches expect us to perform at the top of our abilities without having check-ins. It’s like nobody is actually looking at the reality of mental health, like how are you mentally? How do you feel?”

To lessen the stress and struggle as a student-athlete, Richardson has developed a weekly routine of journaling his feelings.

“I make it a thing where I make myself every week, write down how I feel,” Richardson said. “Freshman year, and sophomore year, It kind of hit me. And it messed me up in the long run because it made me not realize I can talk to people.”

President of the National Honor Society, Hannah Goodwin, says her high school experience has been tumultuous.

My freshman year, I didn’t even go to Bellaire for the most part,” Goodwin said. “I went to Heights high school and that was an experience for sure. And I was used to that group of people, so that was definitely scary because first, I had been at the same school district then the second year was COVID. It was kind of like an upward slope – like it wasn’t great at the beginning, but it gradually got better.”

Senior Casey McClelland says one of her big recommendations is to get out of your shells – She wishes she could have made more friends in class.

“I regret, especially freshman year, not making more friends in my classes because I’ve noticed now, as a junior or senior, class is a lot more fun when you get to know the people around you. During freshman year I would not talk to anybody and I didn’t like school. I thought it was the most boring thing ever. And I feel like when you get to know the people, your classmates, it makes it a lot more fun.”

McClelland feels that a struggle students go through is high school drama.

“Middle school is one thing, but in high school, you’re a little bit more mature. Definitely not all

the way, but just a little bit. And it just seems like it’s the end of the world and it’s definitely not the end of the world because high school is definitely not.”

Although she claims it is cliche, McClelland says, “focus on school, and your extracurriculars, things that you love to do. Don’t be in extracurriculars that you don’t like because that defeats the purpose. And surround yourself with people that support you.”

Laura Cheng, not only a student-athlete but boasting a 4.8 GPA and position as colonel of the Belles, plans on becoming a doctor or biomedical engineer. In order to prepare for her transition to college, she says, “I take a free online course as an intro. Like introductory classes to the college level classes, just so I can learn more and be more prepared because I didn’t take AP Bio – like those AP science classes.”

Some students recommend taking a gap year. Nico Kreindel says he plans to go to college, but after his trip in Israel – “Traveling, visiting a bunch of people, meeting new people, doing a bunch of activities and classes.”

Instead of the purely academic path, he feels as if this journey will help him gain life experience, something his parents are helping him accomplish.

Focusing on doing something you love is something all these expert students offer for succeeding in high school. Marcus Richardson is proud to say “I’m excited to be alive, grateful that I’m here, and grateful that I’m still breathing.”

We all need that Marcus attitude for ourselves.