Many high school students choose to have a job while attending school. Many SCHS students find employment helpful for saving money, becoming more independent or learning important life skills. Others find that keeping up with both schoolwork and a job can be stressful and time consuming.

Freshman Greg Silva recently started working at California’s Great America and enjoys the autonomy he receives from his job.

“I decided to start working to be more independent,” Silva said. “I’m able to make money, which makes me able to make more of my own decisions.”

While some students find their job to be easy, others struggle to manage their job, their schoolwork and their personal lives.

Sophomore Aasees Sandhu began working at the mortgage loan company US Direct Lender to start saving up for college expenses. She works for about an hour each day and appreciates that her job teaches her valuable life skills, such as personal finance. Sandhu hopes that the skills she learns will help her in the future.

While Sandhu is grateful for certain aspects of her job, she finds other parts to be challenging. After school, Sandhu participates in sports and often struggles to manage homework, athletics and her job.

“I think that the school day is pretty long,” Sandhu said. “On top of that, I play sports at school, and I have to do my homework. I think that I would benefit from a shorter day and less homework.”

Like Sandhu, sophomore Lucas Bates also started working to make extra money. Bates works at Togo’s Sandwiches with his friends and appreciates the ability to spend more time with them. Bates works three days per week and occasionally sees the effect of his job on his school and personal life.

“Sometimes it is difficult to get my homework done on Mondays because I go to work straight after school and until 8:45,” Bates said. “This also affects my sleep habits because I end up going to bed later in order to finish homework.”

Many students feel there can be both good and bad parts about balancing a job and school. While it can be difficult for some to manage academics and work, Sandhu hopes that her job will teach her important life skills for the future, as do other SCHS students.

“I like that I get to learn more about personal finance so that I know what I am doing when I get older,” Sandhu said.