High school is right at the age when teens start making the transition from childhood to adulthood. One of these major transitions is having a job. Three Mother of Divine Grace
upperclassmen have kindly agreed to share their experiences having a job.

Where do you work/what job do you do?

Patrick B, Grade 12: I work part time as a cashier at Publix Supermarkets.

Evelyn C, Grade 11: I currently babysit for three different families, 2 on a regular schedule, and one more impromptu.

Adam N, Grade 12: I work at a grocery store called Market Basket as a part-time merchandising employee. My job is generally to assist in merchandising products that are sent to
my store. My manager receives large skids of products. (Some are ordered by my manager, others are products that have been sent to my store with the idea of being displayed and sold.) I help her display these products by building shelves, setting up shippers (cardboard displays) around the store, filling bins that would complement some of the purchases shoppers would make it the area, etc. I also set up signs for these displays when necessary.

What motivated you to get your job?

Patrick B: My first job was working for a wildlife park in South Dakota called Bear Country U.S.A. I had a really good experience during my time there and was motivated to have another at my next job. Because of this, I started looking for jobs in my area and found Publix. It also made
sense for me to work at Publix since my two older brothers did as well when we lived in South Carolina. In this way I would sort of be carrying on the tradition.

Evelyn C: I wanted to get a job so that I could have more work experience before becoming an adult and of course just so that I could get some money haha.

Adam N: Originally, I had intended to get a job in the fast food industry. My parents strongly suggested that I get a job at Market Basket because, even though they paid less, I would have a chance to work with more professional people, have the chance to progress in skillful work, and have more interesting/responsible jobs.

How do you balance work and school?

Patrick B: Having a flexible schedule is really important in order to manage a job, school, and other extracurriculars. Because of the flexibility of homeschooling and my LS Classes, I’ve been able to commit more time to work than I otherwise would have. Despite this though, there are times when I’ve needed to sacrifice some evenings to recoup the time spent working instead of doing schoolwork.

Evelyn C: It’s definitely hard to balance it all, but the nice thing about babysitting is that typically you can do school while you work (Especially if the baby/ies sleep)! At my old job (ice
cream shop) it was definitely more challenging and I did get quite a bit behind, but I’ve found that scheduling out your day (and sticking to it!!!) helps loads! 🙂

Adam N: The best way for me to balance my school and my work is to plan out my schedule for each. I am given a week to request hours (I usually work about 15-20 hours a week, which is about 3 shifts). I also plan out the amount of school I have to get done for that week. I do the day’s worth of school in the morning, which gives me time to work at night (starting at about 3 o’clock). If I am not able to finish the schoolwork on a daily basis, I keep track of what needs to be finished, and do it later in the week when I have time, especially on Fridays. I also take advantage of getting many hours on Saturday mornings, which allows me to work less during the week.