As an adult, having a job is a crucial part of life and most teenage students find that having a job is necessary in high school as well. There are many different reasons that high schoolers may want to get a job.
Some get a job to just have some spending money.
“I got a job in high school to keep me busy, make money to pay for gas, and be able to afford my lifestyle,” junior Carter Howell said.
Others have to get a job to pay for car insurance, bills etc.
“I got a job to be able to pay for my own things and a car payment,” sophomore Adison Sherrill said. Sherrill works at Sonic. She typically works fewer than 40 hours a week.
So far no it has not had any negative affect on my grades. if anything I feel like it motivates me to get stuff done.
— Sophomore Adison Sherrill
There are many benefits to having a job.
“A benefit of having a job in high school is it teaches you how to balance school and work and how to multitask,” senior Grace Drake said.
Drake works four hours at Bomgaars a week because of basketball. She also works 14 hours a week at the daycare.
According to a recent survey of 91 WHS students, 62.6 percent of students currently have a job. Most of those students, 40.4 percent, work in the fast food industry.
“I think that working in fast food while you’re still growing is the best job a teen could have because not only are they learning how to talk with customers, they learn how to deal with problems that aren’t easily solved while customers are angry. It helps them to discover how they deal with chaos and the best way they can deal with it,” senior Sarah Gilbert said.
The survey reports that 47.4 percent of working students work about 10-20 hours a week.
A responsibility that students have when being employed is managing their time.
“Some cons would be not having a lot of free time with friends or family and you have to plan around your work schedule that doesn’t always work out,” Sherrill said.
It can be difficult to balance school and work, but many students have found a way around that.
“I don’t think having a job has had any effects on my grades. I don’t work a ton of hours so that I still have time to get my homework done,” Howell said.
Many WHS students enjoy having a job, not just for the money but also for the experience.
“I enjoy working because it has shown me different things that I will need to know for adulthood,” Drake said.
