The Balance of Senior Life
Finding a balance between a job and a senior project.
November 28, 2018
Many seniors at Big Sky have jobs, but these seniors still have to balance their senior projects and papers, plus getting good grades so that they can graduate. Not everyone can balance having a job, their classes, and making sure that all of their requirements are in on time.
For the students who are athletes or are in band, orchestra, or choir, or who are in out of school activities, whether they have a job or not, it can’t be easy because they have to make sure that they practice on top of doing everything else.
Senior Molly Weigel, who works at Party America, says that it’s hard for her to take time off work, unless she manages to find someone to take over her shift for that day. “The only way I can get off is if someone can cover for me, which is rare because they are busy with school as well.” On top of working, she volunteers, is in school activities, has to do her homework, and do her senior paper and project.
Senior, Hattie Stevens, who works at Fast Signs, tells me that having a job and also being in outside activities makes it hard for her to get everything done on time. “With work and other outside activities, I find it hard to complete homework on time, let alone senior papers,” she says, “I work so that I can afford college next year, senior project stuff is only getting in the way of my college plans. I only just got an idea on a mentor, a day before the contract is due.”
Some people decide to get a job because they want the money, but others get jobs because they have to pay their bills and pay for college. Most people don’t believe that people about the age of 17 have bills that they have to pay, but they do. Some students have to pay for their car insurance, phone bill, gas, and maybe more, but they need money to pay for those things, plus maybe even get some things that aren’t necessities; like food, clothes and other things that they need or want.
There are students who apply for certain jobs, even if they have the experience, and the jobs won’t hire them because of their age, or maybe they don’t have the experience for the job. But there are jobs out there that will hire you without experience. Some might be fast food restaurants, normal restaurants, clothing stores or decoration stores.
Some people can handle having a job and balancing senior life, but others can’t. Not everyone understands what comes with being a senior. Seniors have to make sure you get all of their papers in on time or they will have to go to senior seminar. For senior year, seniors have to complete a certain amount of hours for the senior project and volunteering, plus make sure that everything is done correctly so they don’t have to redo it. They also have to make sure that they have all their papers organized, so they can present. Adding a job on top of all of that will be a lot of work, and is probably a lot of stress, but it’s doable.
This has been a problem for seniors for a while, but there can be benefits to working, like having money to go out to eat, or to get a new laptop or phone. Having a job can also keep students busy. So if you need something to keep you busy, then maybe try to get a job.
