By Connor Hawthorne, Co-Editor in Chief
Working a summer job can have many benefits for high school students looking to stay busy and earn some money. Luckily for River Hill students, there are a multitude of local employment opportunities that they can take advantage of to stay busy during the summer.
One incredibly popular summer job for high school students is working in the restaurant business. Waiters and bussers especially can be one of the highest paying jobs a high school student can have, due to the lucrative tips they take in every night. Junior Quinlan Ballou is working at Konstatines, a Greek restaurant in Clarksville. Konstantines is a popular restaurant for River Hill students to work at. Quinlan heard about the opportunity through his friends, stating, “Some of my friends work there and they told me about it.” Quinlan has never had a job before, however, he is “looking forward to helping people get their food” and believes that working as a busser will be a “rewarding experience.”
Many River Hill students plan on working as camp counselors during the summer. Fritz Orlofsky, a junior, plans on “working at the alternate sports and games summer camp.” Having attended the camp every summer since the age of eleven, the transition to camp counselor came naturally to Fritz. Fritz highlights the importance of hiring good staff stating that “the staff were not very good, they do not actually work very hard, so if you try hard you can stand out.” Fritz admits that they “could have hired better counselors” and recommends the job to any hard working River Hill students who want to try their hand at working as a camp counselor.
Some students at River Hill plan on working more technical internships and jobs in order to gain experience that will relate to their desired career path later on. Marcus Hadeed, a junior with a passion for computer science, plans on working a job with a government contractor helping them with software development. Marcus explains how he acquired the job through a contact that he knew from his church. Computer programming would be challenging for most high school students, and Marcus admits that “It’s gonna be a lot of hard work I think, it’s definitely not going to be easy, working 8 hours a day doing something that takes a lot of brain power such as programming..” He isn’t worried, however, since computer programming is “what I enjoy doing.”
Balancing summer activities and work can be challenging for many high school students. Fritz offers advice to high school students stating that “if you can’t make time for other activities you shouldn’t get a job.” Marcus agrees with Fritz and believes that maintaining a good life work balance is very important. For this summer he has “come up with a schedule” in order to balance his work and cross country training.
Any student looking to get a job this summer, has a plethora of opportunities from the restaurant business, to lifeguarding. Marcus advises any student looking for a job to “find something you’re passionate about.” Working during the summer is a great opportunity to gain valuable life experience.