On Jan. 16, students around the Bronx and city crossed the halfway mark for the 2025-2026 school year. Since the NYC public school system separates the school terms into two parts, students earn credits for passing their classes for the first semester along with the second semester. As a result, students prioritize maintaining passing grades and finishing off strong for the remaining stretch of the school year.

And for some students, this semester will be the last semester of their high school careers. For

Kyana Valerie Rickett, it’s a big relief. She’s proud of how far she’s come as an early graduate, and is very excited to finish her journey. She can’t wait to celebrate with her family and friends.

“Its been a very long path to get how close I am to the finish line,’’ she said. “I wanna spend this time reflecting and just realizing what I’ve accomplished during my time here, and when it’s over, move on to the real world.’’

However, for others, the mark of the last semester is inciting a bit of panic. And for even more people, it’s beginning to bring about a classic condition that comes with the end of high school – senioritis. Senioritis represents a serious drop in motivation and interest in school, resulting in actions like simply not finishing work, skipping classes, or just not attending school at all for periods of time. It’s an interesting affliction that has started to affect students due to the critical amount of school time left.

Jose Ramirez, a senior who is affected by this common mood, is finding it hard to focus and is struggling to keep up with assignments after the end of January. He believes it’s a bit pointless to give his assignments 100 percent when the end goal of his time here is so close.

“It’s honestly hard to lock in,’’ he said. “ got no motivation to actually try in school at this point. I’ll graduate anyway, as long as I don’t fail anything.’’

And although the school year is almost complete, students still have a healthy four months until graduation. And with mixed reactions, savvy students will remain cautious and aware of the work required to walk along with their peers during graduation.