My name is Allie Wisgerhof and I am suffering from a severe case of Senioritis. The first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem and I, along with 89% of the 2016 Senior Class are suffering from this incredibly contagious disease. Several of our teachers have done all they can to inspire us through pep talks, preaching and positive reinforcement, however, I’m afraid that we are a lost cause.

Living with SS (Severe Senioritis) is difficult. With a mere 10 days of school remaining, finding the motivation to put any sort of effort into school work is like trying to run a marathon. Our 43 minute class periods seem as if they last for hours and waking up in time for the 8:15 bell is a chore. The fact of the matter is, I could quit doing any work and still pass. So why do anything? We are in the home stretch of our high school career and believe me, after four years of the same thing we’re dying to get out of here. But are we?

While we complain about our boring teachers and the students we are surrounded by, I can’t help but feel a little sad when thinking about leaving all of this behind. For the last four years it’s been the same. Wake up. Go to school. Go to work. Go home. Repeat! I walk through the hallways and smile at a familiar face, and get a few ‘Hey Allie!’s’ on my way to class. Every teacher knows your name, even the ones that you don’t have in class. The exact same schedule with the exact same people, for four years. When you’re 18 years old, four years is almost a quarter of your life. But if you’re like me, you’ve been going to ADM with basically the same 120 kids for 13 years. About 75% of my life has been spent with the same kids, and while all I can think about is leaving all of this behind and ‘moving up in the world,’ these last 13 years at ADM have been my world.

The number 13 is notorious for being unlucky. There were 13 people at the Last Supper.

Traditionally, there were 13 steps leading up to the gallows.

Apollo 13 is the only unsuccessful moon mission.

According to Mr. Krabs on Spongebob Squarepants, there are 13 dirty words.

Kids officially become teenagers at the age of 13, and we all know that’s a scary phase.

2012-2013 was our freshman year, and don’t even get me started on that.

August 13th was when one of our classmates, Devin Umbaugh, was involved in a fatal car accident.

However, there’s one ’13’ that sticks out in my mind that wasn’t so unlucky. The 13 years that our seniors have spent here at ADM. Thirteen years ago I met one of my best friends, Madison Feid, when I asked her if I could slide with her at the first recess of Miss Kruminga’s class, and how lucky that was. But, the luck doesn’t end there. Thirteen years later and we are still so lucky to all be together here at ADM. We are lucky to have the teachers that we do, that care so much about all of us. We are so lucky to live in a community that is as supportive as my own parents. We are so lucky to have started school together 13 years ago.

On the first day of your senior year countless people say, “Enjoy it! It goes fast,” and we rolled our eyes, with our heads set on May 29th. The school year dragged until winter break. Then suddenly, it was spring break, and then prom was over, and then we had 10 days of high school left….. ever. Your last football game doesn’t seem like a big deal until you look back and realize that you’ll never be able to wear your ‘Spirit Pants’ in the student section ever again. Next year in that third week of February we won’t be heading to the absolutely packed Wells Fargo Arena to cheer on our friends and favorite wrestlers.

Heck, there won’t even be early dismissals anymore, and that means no skipping the school lunch for a lunch date with your friends.

So, as much as we all complain about the dress code, school lunches, and the teachers who care just a little too much, I wouldn’t change a thing about the community that I grew up in.

Thirteen days from now we will have gone to our last class here at ADM, had our last fist bump from Mr. Griebel, and our last handshake from Mrs. Basinger.

Thirteen weeks from now, ADM’s class of 2016 will be starting their own adventures. Whether that be at Iowa State or UNI, or maybe a new job. Maybe in another state or even another country.

Thirteen months from now, our first summer after high school will be in full swing, and odds are, our lives will be entirely different than they are now. New friends, new memories, and new plans.

Finally, thirteen years from now most of us will be married and starting our families. Some may still live here in Adel and their kids starting their career at ADM, and some may be across the country.

Some of us may be dead.

Wherever we end up in 13 years, we will still have the ‘Lucky 13’ that we all spent here together at ADM.

So, congratulations Class of 2016. I promise that the Senioritis will end at the end of this year, but will probably pick back up around your third year at college and that’s okay. You’ll find a way to get through it, and you’ll make it to another graduation.

Goodluck Seniors, and may all of your 13’s be lucky.