Many students at LHS have or plan to get a job during their high school years. Some students have the luxury of a choice and some have to get a job to pay for college, bills, or a car. Some students do not have a choice.

   “Time management and saving is definitely really important to me at this point in my life,” senior Nina Hawkins said.

   Hawkins spends a majority of her time working her two jobs. Though it is time consuming and difficult to balance at times, she sacrifices social activities to make time for her jobs.

   Through all the stress and hard work, Hawkins feels more independent and enjoys having the extra money.

   “I work at Steak & Shake as a server, and I work at B&B Theaters as a cashier,” Hawkins said. “I’ve worked at B&B for a year and three months and I’ve worked at Steak & Shake for about eight months.”

   Hawkins works nearly 60 hours a week because of work release and is very dedicated to making her own money and her own decisions.

   While students like Hawkins put a lot of time into their job, there are also students who have jobs to have spending money because they spend a majority of their time doing extracurricular activities or sports.

      “I work at Lamar’s and I’ve worked there for about two years,” senior Coleman Howard said. “I need a little extra money and I also had to save up for the trip to Germany I went on with the school.”

   Only working about twelve hours a week allows Howard to put adequate time into football and school.

      “It just gives you extra spending money. You can go out with your friends, you can do stuff on the weekend that you wouldn’t get to do if you didn’t have a job, or you’d have to ask your parents for money,” Howard said.

   Howard sees his job as a gateway for opportunities in the future as well.

   “I do think it’s very important [for high school students to experience a job],” Howard said. “I think it’s really good to get work experience even if it’s just something part-time at a restaurant or something. It’s good to get experiences to put on resumes in the future and stuff like that.”

   At this point in Howard’s life, school remains the most important thing.

   “Getting into college is definitely the most important thing right now, so I have to get good grades,” Howard said.

   Here at LHS, there are also students who balance three different activities along with school. Junior Jenna Edens is involved in band, cross-country, and has a job at the Northland Rolladium Skating Rink.

   “[I chose to get a job] because I was doing a lot more stuff and I needed the money,” Edens said.

   Though she has more spending money, it often gets difficult to balance her everyday activies.

   “I don’t get very much sleep because of all of my activities. I have to organize when I do things and sometimes I don’t get everything done,” Edens said, “Sometimes I have to call into work, or skip cross-country.”

   Edens fits everything into her schedule to accomplish what she wants to do.

   “If my schoolwork was going badly, I couldn’t do my sport,” Edens said, “and if those two things were going poorly, I would have to quit my job.”

   Personal Finance teacher Adrienne Fowler thinks that students with jobs learn valuable life lessons.

  “I think it teaches students responsibility and time management and it also teaches them how to manage money,” Fowler said.

   However, there are downsides to students having jobs.

   “Some negatives could be if a student is taking on too much,” Fowler said. “Like if a student is working 30 hours a week and involved in an activity. I think when it cuts into school work is the only bad thing about a student having a job.”

   Having a job is a choice that depends on schoolwork, activities, and personal values. LHS is full of bright students who excel at school and activities with or without a job.