It’s the fourth week of the first semester of the school year, and all I can think about is May. That glorious day in the spring when I’ll finally be done with school.

As graduation creeps up, it’s extremely difficult for me not to act like I already have one foot out the door. You all know what I’m talking about. Senioritis.

It’s that feeling when you hear your alarm go off at 7 a.m. and think to yourself, “Is it really worth it to get up and go to class?” You’ve been dealing with 8 a.m. classes for three years already, and it’s about time you get to sleep in.

Or maybe you have a paper due, and you legitimately consider how much fluff you can put in there and still earn a passing grade.

Basically, what is the minimum, acceptable effort you can put into this year and still get to wear that cap and gown?

Despite the joking tone most people use when discussing senioritis, they’ll also agree that motivation and effort are hard to maintain when you’re so close to the end.

So how do we battle this onslaught of exhaustion, stress and sudden acceptance of mediocrity?

We have to start by appreciating what we have here in front of us. At this school, we have teachers that care about us. We have an absolutely gorgeous campus with top-notch facilities and a Starbucks to keep the caffeine flowing through our veins. We get a great education at a place that also gives us complete freedom to worship.

After we graduate, there’s a big, scary world out there waiting for us. We have to grow up, put on our big-kid pants and start our lives. The job market won’t be kind to all of us. The world certainly isn’t as tolerant of open Christianity as this school is. It won’t be so easy to make lifelong friends anymore.

We can debate all day about tuition rates, Chapel requirements and mandatory CORE classes, but in the end, we all get opportunities here we just wouldn’t get anywhere else. It’s worth it.

When I think about that, I’m reminded of the standards I should be holding myself to while I’m still here. We may not have these opportunities again, so we should take full advantage of them, not just try to get by.

Considering just how much I’ll be walking away from this spring, maybe I’m not that anxious to get out of here after all.