Walking into school two weeks before summer vacation, something always feels different; perhaps the halls are marginally quieter, or some teachers look relieved or the traffic seemed to flow much more quickly in the  morning. The cause? P-CEP is almost two thousand students short–two thousand seniors, specifically.

From the viewpoint of a slightly biased and much-more-than-slightly salty junior, watching those seniors strut out of the Park on June 1 is like an extra kick in the gut after a school year that’s already been filled with bruises and black eyes. I admit that part of it is jealousy over the fact that they get out earlier, but the extra kicker is also how other students are forced to accommodate the graduating class as they get ready to leave.

The most noticeable impact is an earlier semester final. While some students may be grateful to get them over with, an earlier final means less time to learn the required information in classes. This forces teachers to cram in lessons at the end of the year, which doesn’t benefit the seniors or the other students, and it could possibly lead to a lower grade on the final.

Having to learn a whole unit in one day isn’t the only factor that affects the performance of students; for those who have classes with or are friends with seniors, it’s well known that senioritis is very real and very contagious. Being surrounded by peers who have already thrown in the towel, practically changed into their swimsuits, grabbed their plane tickets and have been twitching at the edge of their seats really hurts the overall amount of motivation in the classroom, and it causes students to believe that they can stop trying because hey, why not? The senior in Spanish sleeps through half of the class anyways.

Once the seniors are gone, classes that still have students in them either become a pointless hour where kids do whatever they want, or the teacher attempts to teach a somewhat related filler topic that, in all honesty, is also pretty pointless. Either the rest of the school should be let out two weeks earlier as well, or the seniors should ride out the rest of the year because it’s just cruel to waste students’ and teachers’ time by forcing them to sweat it out in a stuffy classroom.

Sure, in the end there’s no harm in getting a little excited and riled up at the idea of summer break, but as soon as the seniors have hightailed it out, hard, cold reality comes around knocking for the rest of us and says, “Hang tight, sucker. You’ve still got school until halfway through June.”