By Mallorie Leal Posted June 3, 2009
Scrubbing pots and pans, dealing with grumpy customers,working in scorching hot or torturously cold weather; these describe some of the conditions teenagers work in. When did the transition begin from doing daily house chores to finding an actual job? Most parents want their child to learn life lessons from having a job, so when leave their home they have had a taste of the “real world.” When students reach the age of sixteen, they may find themselves in the search of a job.
Mrs. Kim Brooks, the career center advisor at Lowry, believes students should have jobs because it teaches responsibility, demonstrates the payoffs of hard work, and keeps kids out of trouble. As young and inexperienced as most of the teenagers who get jobs seem to be, there ends up only being a certain handful of jobs to choose from in a small community.
Restaurants, the movie theater, the bowling alley, fast food places, coffee shops, and grocery stores are some of the more common jobs populated by high school students. Some students also may be found working in different places such as bigger businesses where they may be filing papers or doing more office work than a typical high school job might entail. A rare group of kids here at Lowry have parents who feel that they have all their lives to get a job and these are the times to have fun and enjoy being kids.
However, for those students who are working, a major downside to having a job is, “missing out on fun activities or losing sleep,” said Elizabeth Gomez, who is a senior at Lowry. Gomez works at the Winnemucca Inn where she busses tables.
Jobs may seem to take away from social life, but students may have jobs to help build a future after high school. Most of the money students earn from their jobs is being accumulated to have for when they begin theirs after high school plans. Whether it means going to college or just living away from home, money is needed to survive.
Most kids get jobs to help pay for the extra fun stuff they need, and some work because they need to help support their own families. Many students at Lowry use their hard-earned money to pay for their own lunch.
“Now that I have my own job, I can give my dad a break and pay for my own things,” said Rachel Yates who is employed at the local movie theatre.
Students believe having a job and raising their own money helps to demonstrate independence from their parents and it also shows responsibility. Jobs do benefit students; they teach life-long lessons, help manage time more efficiently, and in some cases help provide for family members. Earning your very own paycheck isn’t too bad either.
