Many high school students balance their free time with various activities including studying, sports, clubs, friends and family, etc. With all these going on it may be hard to balance a job too. Results from a survey taken by students from Normal Community show many different answers, but the majority of students from all four grades agreed that having a job is the preferred option during high school.

The students decided that having a job had many positive and negative impacts on a high school teen’s life. The popular reason students gave in favor of having a job was to have experience for the future, learn how to budget and manage money, and to accumulate money for savings. Wes Trunk, a senior, agrees with this but has a good way of judging what job is good for a high school student.

“I think it’s important to find a job with good hours so you’re not up late. It’s very wise to accumulate money for yourself,” Trunk explains.

It’s smart to save money for yourself but it should never come at the expense of your schoolwork.

Makayla McCartney (10) suggests this for students thinking of getting a job, “If you are taking advance classes and extracurricular having a job would add unnecessary stress.”

Jobs can be stressful and aren’t for everyone. Some students may have time they need to fill to keep them out of trouble, and a job would be a perfect way to fill time and get some extra money along the way. A lot of students reported that the main reason they think it’s smart to have a job is to have gas money and money for going out.

For many high school students having a job would be too overwhelming and would take up the time they would use to study, have a social life, or even sleep. Adam Montes  (11) believes being unemployed in high school is the wiser choice.

“Being unemployed would be a better choice because school is a big enough job already,” Montes shares.

Many students expressed that their parents would have no issue with providing them some extra money for gas, movies, or for any other random activity they needed it. This eliminates the main reason for students to look for a job in high school, but there are many reasons people may need/want a job that is different for each and every person.

At Normal Community, the general consensus is that having a job during high school is ideal because it better educates us on money and time management, helps make extra money, and helps figure out what we want to do when we graduate. There are many aspects to keep in mind when deciding to have a job or not. The hour load is a very smart thing to keep in mind when deciding what job to apply for. Time is valuable and as students, studying should be our top priority. Hollie Gleason, a senior here at Normal Community, shared some good tips from her personal experience in deciding and finding a good job while in high school.

“It depends on the person. My hours are so light I don’t mind but when I worked at McDonalds and Orient Gourmet, it was too much. You should only get a job if you need to because high school students work part time they get crazy hours!” Gleason explains her own experiences.

High school holds plenty of fun and interesting experiences that you don’t want to miss out on. So, if you have a job or are thinking about getting one the smartest thing to do is to find a job with flexible and few hours. You only go through high school once but you work the rest of your life. So don’t let work make you miss out on your high school life because you’re only a kid once so live it up.