This previously ran in our February 2023 print issue.

With less than half of the 2022-23 school year remaining, senior Kelly Lantey reflects on his experience with workloads, deadlines, and the infamous senioritis. 

Lantey is no stranger to the workload given at Emmaus, but he finds the deadlines for certain classes and assignments to be tiresome. 

“Honestly, it’s keeping up with deadlines because you know as a senior, you have more and more deadlines,” Lantey said. “So, just keeping up with deadlines is a big challenge.”

Lantey also finds that the influence of senioritis — the lack of motivation seniors experience in their final year of high school or college — is a major hindrance on his academic performance and drive overall. 

“It’s really [having] motivation because when you are a senior, you do not want to be in school,” Lantey said. “That was the last year so, it’s really [having] motivation that’s challenging.”

Despite struggling with deadlines and motivation, Lantey has managed to stay on his college-bound path by immersing himself in his future career: computer science. 

Originally, Lantey had not thought about college or a career in the computer science field, but with the encouragement of his mother, he decided that computer science was the right choice for him. 

“I decided I would pursue [computer science] during my sophomore year because my mom does it and she’s my biggest inspiration,” Lantey said. “I decided to go down that path.”

In his senior year, Lantey participated in a few of EHS’ expansive computer science courses to help him better understand his future profession. He regrets not taking the classes earlier in his high school career but finds the workload manageable. 

“It’s been kind of difficult, but it’s nothing that I can’t manage,” Lantey said. “So, it’s going good so far.”

Lantey enjoys the new classes that he’s had the opportunity to take, and with it, the new experiences that will forever impact his career and life moving forward. 

“[With the] new classes, you get to meet different people,” Lantey said. “It’s like every interaction you have in life [is] a chance to learn and experience new things.”