High school students can work all kinds of different jobs. Some choose the food service, for example, working at McDonalds or Chick-Fil-A. Others may choose lifeguarding at local pools or working at local businesses. Jobs, with their stress, breaks, and scholarship opportunities, can impact student lives both positively and negatively.
The jobs that teenagers work can increase their stress levels. Different jobs have different stress levels. Lifeguarding can be stressful, as teenagers who are 15 to 20 years old make sure that other kids are safe at the pool and the beach. Katie Tully, a senior who works as a lifeguard at Franklin Park and Round Hill Aquatic Center, explains, “It can be stressful when the pool is super busy, or if we’re dealing with multiple issues at once.”
Another important factor impacting student lives are break times. Breaks for the jobs can be long depending on the shift hours, which can be enough time to get homework done, it all just depends on the student. Job breaks are nice, but they are not always expected to happen, which can impact their student and social life. Abby Stanton, a sophomore who works at Great Country Farms, shares this experience with being understaffed. Stanton said, “We only get 15 minutes because we can’t afford to lose time, because we are understaffed a lot of the time. I usually start my breaks around 12:30 or one p.m. Sometimes I do not get a break though.”
While some teenagers may choose the job they want because of the breaks, others may choose their jobs for scholarship opportunities. Chick-Fil-A is one of those jobs that provide scholarships for their employees, which can be a reason why some people choose the job they work at now. The official Chick-Fil-A website explains, “Each year, Chick-fil-A restaurant Team Members across the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico are offered the opportunity to apply for college scholarships through the Chick-fil-A Remarkable Futures™ scholarship program. Since 1973, we’ve been able to donate more than $191 million to help more than 105,000 Team Members pursue a higher education and achieve their remarkable future — whether it’s with Chick-fil-A or elsewhere.”
Jobs are shown to be both helpful and harmful in student lives with the stress of the job, breaks, and scholarship opportunities. Although jobs can sometimes put a strain on the lives of students they can be beneficial with helping create new opportunities.