As OHS students continue to graduate from grade school and grow into young adults, the importance of holding a specific job to make some spending money is quite important.

Living off of their parents’ money may not get them to where they want to be, financially, before graduating from the OHS.

According to Wendy Mogel featured in The Huffington Post–author of The Blessing of a Skinned Knee and The Blessing of a B Minus–having a job as a behind-the-counter worker at a pharmacy, hostess at a diner and waitressed at a catering hall saved her from spending up to $15,000 for college by taking $3,000 out of the equation from having those three jobs. So in the end, it made a difference having a job.

Students do not necessarily need to be involved in three jobs at a time, but having a job throughout high school could potentially save some money for college funds. Wendy Mogel also states that, “working also taught me life lessons, including how to make change at a cash register”.  

Important life lessons, such as this one, could be essential in the future of one’s career experience when it comes to applying for jobs.

A few similar results from the outside sources are similar to a student of OHS, Devon McNamara, with her responses to specific questions regarding school-year round jobs/part time jobs.

“Having a job teaches you how to have a budget by learning what you should spend, and what you should not spend. It also teaches you time management at the same time so you know what to get done in your schoolwork outside of  your work hours,” said McNamara.

Although students these days are involved in extremely rigorous courses, such as AP and accelerated classes, having a part-time job that could be included in a student’s resume (along with extracurriculars) is essential in differentiating their resume from another’s.

It proves that the student is well-rounded, and has more experience as a young adult evolving into more of a professional person at hand.

Not all high school students are A+ students, so when it comes to the difference of average students with jobs compared to students with a 4.0 GPA and no job, the student who does not have the spectacular grades will potentially have more “real world experience” from the job, compared to the student who is strictly involved in school and only school, according to The Huffington Post.

These pieces of information are the keys to being successful in both school, and work. Self discipline and time management are life skills that will follow young adults going into their professional work fields, or whatever field they desire to be included in.

According to OHS student, Emma Eastman, “I signed up to work at Ben & Jerry’s to have a little extra spending money for college, and it is also a great way for me to manage my time. The days I have work are the days that I know I need to finish my homework before my shift starts.”

There are many benefits to having a job during the school year as a high school student. Teaching life lessons such as time management, budget management, and leadership skills are all things that having a job could potentially impact a student for the better in the future. Experience that follows from having a job only puts that student one step higher on the list of applicants for colleges, and essential life skills proceed to form that student’s life.