The number of students with jobs is on the rise. Nearly 30 percent of high schoolers have jobs, according to Walden University Education for Good. Whether that means a summer job, full-time, or part-time job, many students have been getting jobs to pay for gas money. At NHS, many students are working hard to raise money to support themselves and their families, or even getting a job for something to do in their spare time. Getting a job can help students prepare for their futures.
Some students work at places such as Dillons, Walmart, Sonic, Orschelns, the YMCA and many more. The most common reason for a student to choose a job is because it is the type of job or field they are wanting to pursue in the future. Some other reasons students want to have jobs are because they get paid well or the flexibility student employers have. Senior Raylee Holcomb works as a CNA at Paramount Community Living and Rehab. She plans to go into the same field in the future and pursue her goals as a CNA. Holcomb says there are different pros and cons to her job.
“I really love helping people and taking care of them. The pros are being able to make people happy, and the money. Cons are when residents pass away,” Holcomb said.
Her favorite part about her job is being able to help and be there for her residents. Holcomb says that her residents are her main priority. She also says she can’t wait to get her Certified Medication Aide license and finally feel free when graduating high school this year.
“I plan on getting my Med Aide and then hopefully getting my RN,” Holcomb said.
Junior Lucy Buller, works at Kidron Bethel as an Activities Assistant. Her favorite thing about her job is connecting with her residents. When Buller started looking for a job, she really did not want to work in fast food so she started looking for other opportunities. When she first saw this job, it was only available at the nursing home in Hesston and she did not want to go there, but a few weeks later it opened up at Kidron and she decided to apply. She does not know for sure if she will keep this job in college or not, but she will think about it if she goes to college somewhere nearby.
“If I go to college around Newton, I will probably keep this job because the hours are so flexible and I can just work around when I have school. Right now I only work Tuesday and Thursday nights because of school and tennis, but during the summer I can work as much as I want. I love my job, I really love connecting with older people and my residents are so easy to talk to,” Buller said. “When it’s nice weather, I often take one or two of them outside and we just talk for a long time. Almost all of them are 80 or older, some of them even getting close to 100 so they have lived very long lives and have a lot of stories. My great aunt lives at Kidron and doesn’t know who I am because of her dementia, but I love to get to talk to her and tell her about our family,”
Buller says the pros of her job are that she gets to connect with a very different age group than she is used to. She also loves her boss and she met one of her best friends through work as well. Buller also says that the biggest con is having to say goodbye to people. She knew going into the job that it would be a challenge, but she says it is hard to get so close to people knowing that they do not have a lot of their life left.
“I don’t know that I will go into a job in healthcare but regardless of if I do or not, I think this job has taught me some extremely valuable life skills that I wouldn’t have learned otherwise,” Buller said. “Holding someone’s hand as they die is not at all what I pictured my job in high school looking like, but it also really puts things into perspective for me. From this job, I have learned that I definitely want to have a career that helps other people, even if it isn’t healthcare or the medical field.”