May 14, 2022.

That’s the day seniors will graduate from Mayfield High School and officially become alumni.

But according to Class of 2022 counselor Pam Bobinski, in the weeks and months before May 14, many seniors have struggled with senioritis. She said, “Senioritis is a loss, or numb, or checked out state. It’s a point where students are in their senior year and they are just ready to be done.”

Michael Verdi of the Science department teaches many seniors and admits he’s struggled to find a senioritis cure to help his struggling seniors. He said, “We’ve tried getting mad, we’ve tried punishing, we try rewarding, so if there were an easy answer for us, senioritis wouldn’t exist. You try and meet kids where they are at, and at this point, we put some of it into their hands and let them pick what they are going to do.”

Verdi tries to develop and maintain relationships with his students to keep them motivated to attend class. He said, “I try to teach my class in a way that I hope that they look forward to coming to it. We have good relationships, whether it’s the small talk we’ve had over the years, that kinda hopefully keeps kids wanting to come to school and I hope they look forward to coming to class.”

With just three more days of instruction for seniors, Bobinski and the other counselors have opened up their offices to help seniors who are struggling with their grades. “We’re reaching out to the seniors who are kind of falling into that category and allowing them to come back into the school building on a regular basis during any extra time.

“I know release time is really popular this year, but we’re pulling those releases [so students are] back in the building full-time without privileges of leaving and encouraging any students to come meet with teachers during their off periods [and] to come up here to the counseling office to check-in and to work here in the counseling office,” she said

Bobinski wants the current juniors to take notice of what’s happening to seniors who are struggling to cross the finish line. She said, “Listen to the current seniors and be sure to know that [senioritis] does happen and prepare with a plan for who their supports are that they can go to when they start recognizing this state or these feelings. The earlier they get a jumpstart on finding the support they need, it will be a lot easier and a lot smoother ending.”

Mayfield’s 122nd Commencement ceremony will occur at 2pm on Saturday, May 14 at KeyBank State Theater in Playhouse Square.