Balancing a Job and High School

Eja Fromm
Staff Writer

School is already stressful and complex enough, but imagine dealing with a job as well. 

Photo creds: https://www.moneyandbills.com/high-school-job/

     A good majority of high school students balance having a job and school everyday. According to a study led by the University of Michigan, 1 in 4 high school students that are 16 or older in America have a job. 

     It isn’t an easy task time managing going to work, and still finding time for homework, projects, family, friends, and extracurricular activities. It’s a lot to deal with for teenagers with enough responsibilities to manage already in everyday life. 

     There are many pros, however, of having a job at an early age such as gaining communication skills, developing a work ethic, and learning important values that will help later in life. Students also develop an appreciation of money and learn to not take it for granted. 

     Some high school students get jobs that include some of their hobbies. For example, over the Summer, Power Aquatics hires former or current athletes that were a part of their program to teach kids how to swim or how to play water polo. This way, high school students enjoy what they’re doing because they feel more connected to the job as they already have experience and fully understand what they are teaching. 

     Almost every job that high school students can do involve working with other people and dealing with customers. Working in restaurants can be difficult as sophomore Sage Mccorgary stated, “At work customers treat me lesser than others because they are older than me.” She works at Riptide Sushi.

     Pleasing customers can be a challenge as Emily Hendries who works at Starbucks mentioned, “Customers are often picky and don’t actually know what they want, but the customer is ‘always right’ and you have to make them happy even when they’re wrong.”

      Junior, Maddie Schwartz, has a very busy life as she is in IB, is on the varsity water polo team, and works for Cal Elite Swim School. 

     Schwartz works for the experience and mentioned how she enjoys, “how fulfilling it is to complete everything and be accredited for my accomplishments.”

     She loves teaching kids how to swim but also feels stressed with the little time she has to study and time to spend with family and friends, “Though I find school and work very enjoyable, everyone needs some type of relaxation and time for themselves.” 

      Although having a job does bring more stress and can cause a distraction from education, it builds character and is possible with good time management. It can also bring life long friends and new opportunities. 

     Having a job also builds having independance and lets teenagers explore future career interests. For example, there are summer jobs and internships that students can volunteer at to explore an interest they have in a possible future career.

     According to ziprecruiter.com, the best jobs for high school students include being a barista, lifeguard, tutor, waiter/waitress, and food delivery driver. These are all very possible jobs to find in Southern California as there are so many opportunities. 

     Most high school students are making minimum wage. The minimum wage in California is twelve dollars per hour. 

     All in all, having a job can increase stress and take away a lot of time from everyday life, but it can also be a great and fulfilling experience as well. 

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