All work and no play ...

May 06, 2008 12:49 am

— High school students have started to go where no one of their age used to dare to tread. Most of them now have jobs. Many teens today find themselves running in four different directions.
Between sports, school, homework and friends, students barely have any time for themselves. Some even go beyond normal and get jobs to pay for the luxuries that make being a teenager great, but turn life into one big balancing act.
LeNae Miller, East Fairmont High School senior, said, “I like the independence that comes with making my own money, but having a job does tend to put a lot of extra stress on my life. I like being a high school student and working at the same time. I get some responsibility without being totally on my own.”
What is the reason for so many teens now in the business world? One word: independence.
Most students today like the thought of having their own money and do not mind working hard to get it. Getting out and seeing what the real word is all about is a good idea before teens go off to college.
Junior Nikki Keefover replied, “I like working. It gives me a great feeling of accomplishment when I know that I can balance work and school. Working while I am still in school prepares me for college because it teaches me how to manage my time and get things done. It’s a great sense of the real world.”
Teenagers get jobs for many different reasons and the most common is to make money. But having your own income has its advantages and its disadvantages.
“I have worked three jobs,” said EFHS junior Heather Layne. “I like working and making my own money, but since I have my own income then I have to pay for things that some other kids do not have to, like gas.”
Some kids have to get a job to pay for cars, insurance, gas, clothes and cell phones.
Mowing yards is a great way to make extra money in a world where it is hard to get a job when you are under the age of 18.
“I do odd jobs like mowing and cutting trees. I work for myself. I am my own boss. I like having my own money and it doesn’t affect my school work because I can rearrange my schedule. If I miss a day of mowing, then it is no big deal,” stated junior Logan Markley.
Jobs like mowing and doing yard work offer flexibility to students that helps when they need to make money but have a big test to study for that day. But what happens when balancing school and jobs become too much to handle?
Working is a big responsibility. Some kids do it and excel, but others find it too hard to keep up with it all. Teens today carry a lot of stress around with them and having a job can prove to be too difficult.
“I used to work,” says EFHS student Kelly Weisenborn, “but with school and all the sports I play, there is no time for anything. I couldn’t go to practice every day then to work and then come home and do homework and projects. I would just come home and be so tired that I went to sleep.”
This is one of the main reasons that young workers do not keep their jobs for long or have to quit. There just is not enough time in a day or energy to do everything!
Balancing school, friends, homework and a job is really tough especially for young teens. Some find a way to do it, and others try and cannot keep up.
Either way a person chooses to do it, the choice should be what is best for them and they should have fun while doing it. Some are just better at juggling than others.

Photos

LeNae Miller, a senior at East Fairmont High School, types her schedule for work during her free time. For the Times West Virginian