Students’ motivation wanes this time of year.

“I have the most motivation at the beginning of the year,” Autumn Cassell, junior, said. “I always tend to start off strong at the beginning of the school year, but as the year goes on I get tired of the routine and start zoning out in my classes. I always seem to fizzle out of the end of the year.”

Another junior agrees with her.

“I have more motivation at the beginning of the year because the end of the year has all of the big exams and SOLs we have to take, and it is overall very tiring,” Hannah Wilson, junior, said.

“We’ve had all these breaks; it gives me a tiny taste of what summer is gonna be like, and I lose all motivation to keep going because of the breaks. Which compared to the beginning of the year, you don’t get as many breaks so I focus more,” Cassell said. 

“My motivation now is not as good as it was in the beginning. At the beginning I was excited to be at school with my friends and now I dread even getting out of bed,” Wilson said. 

“At the beginning of the school year I was excited to see my friends and motivated to good this year in all my classes, but now that it is getting warmer and more like summer I am losing that motivation,” Madison Swanson, junior, said.

“The main thing that motivates me during the school year is knowing that I’m almost at the finish line, and I only have one more year to finish. I just keep thinking about how relieved I’ll be at graduation and proud of myself that I made it,” Cassell said. 

“My friends are a big source of my motivation. They are always there for me to have a shoulder to lean on if I’m struggling and can always be a big help to me if I get stuck,” Wilson said.