Balancing school, extracurricular activities and a social life is a task many high school students face every day. However, many students go one step further and also have a part-time job. Whether it’s to earn money or get the experience on their resume, many students have jobs during the last year or two of their high school career. 

Junior Jonathan Kraft works at Harris Teeter as a cashier, his shifts can be from six to eight hours, and can take up his afternoon. “On days that I don’t have work everything is good,” Kraft said. “But on the days that I do have work I get home at ten, so [then] I just don’t have time to do anything else.”

Kraft works two days a week, so those days are packed for him, but every other day of the week is open. Knowing which days he works in advance helps Kraft plan his schedule. His work has an app they use so everyone knows their shifts, “You can even trade shifts on there so if you aren’t available, you can ask other people if they can cover it,” Kraft said. 

Part-time work can offer many benefits. It can allow students to earn their own money while learning about the professional world, but some take it a step further. Junior Ella Bowen is the co-founder and creator of Blended Essentials. She started with her family making soaps as gifts, but soon it grew to a business with its storefront. 

“We started in our kitchen and moved to our garage,” Bowen said. “We were like, what if we opened up a store?”

Bowen spends the majority of her weekends at the store working on new products, keeping the books or managing the employees. She comes in at other times throughout the week to help and has been diligent in how she divides her school time and work.

“I have cut out [time] especially for school,” Bowen said.

Calendars are Bowen’s best friend. She uses Google calendar and connects it to her Brightspace school calendar. It lets her access all her calendars all at once on her phone, the perfect convenience. Still, there’s lots of work to be done at any job, and you have to want to be there to have a good performance.

“If you’re going in to make something, and you’re not super excited about making it, you’re going to absolutely despise making that product,” Bowen said. A key to enjoying your job is making sure it’s something you’re interested in. It’ll make everything more enjoyable.