t happened.

I was sitting at the Frothy Monkey Coffee Shop late one night, studying and doing a little homework when I suddenly realized something

Many of you may be facing the same feelings (or symptoms).

Do you feel really old when you walk through campus?

Do you find yourself with a lack of ambition?

Do things that used to seem extremely important now feel insignificant?

Do you find yourself wanting to do anything but what you should be doing?

Well, as I sat drinking my coffee that night, I finally faced reality. I had all the symptoms: I was suffering from senioritis.

I know this usually refers to high school seniors, but I believe I have been infected with this incurable disease.

I completed my journalism classes nearly a year ago and have classes I'm not so interested in taking on the agenda.

Take it from me, if you are not a biology major, do not leave a biology class to take during your last year.

It's like pulling teeth just to make myself go to class. And, it's not the professor, it's me. I'm completely burned out.

Burned out from what, you say? Well, years of 15-hour days are finally catching up to me.

Attending meetings for the organizations I am involved in and even meetings for my beloved sorority seem so difficult.

"How could I let this happen?" I thought. I am always so dedicated to everything I participate in.

But after talking to several friends and people around campus, I've realized this feeling is completely natural.

It's just time to move on.

Though moving on is exciting, it can be a little frightening at the same time.

We have gone to school for the past 17 years (or more for some), and everything we have known will be changing. It is the fear of the unknown.

Everything I knew I wanted to do since I was in first grade seems a little blurry now, and I question pretty much everything.

Can I really do this? What if I don't make it?

How am I going to survive in the "real" world?

I believe almost every college senior faces one or more of these questions sometime during their last year of college.

There are several drawbacks to facing senioritis, but I've also come to a certain realization.

Tests and homework are not life or death.

College is more than just making a 4.0 GPA.

Its getting to know people, learning to understand others, learning responsibility, finding out you can handle a lot more than what you thought and most importantly learning to understand yourself.

Granted you do go to college to learn and earn a degree, but sometimes there are more important things than making an A on that exam.

Some of you may disagree with me, but being there for a friend who is having an extremely difficult time with life is more important than making that A.

Maybe it's just where you put your priorities.

Suffering from senioritis can have positive and negative effects, but I guess we just have to rely on our confidence, and tell ourselves if we want something bad enough, we can do whatever we put our minds to (in a realistic perspective).

So, for all of you seniors out there: live a little, don't take everything thing so seriously, but realize what is important.

"Carpe Diem," my fellow seniors.

Jennifer Reynolds is a senior journalism major from Shreveport and serves as editor for The Tech Talk. E-mail comments to jmr035@latech.edu.