Students Juggle School and Work
Working during the school year can help gather money for college, but is it worth it? Maintaining a job and school can have a big impact on grades.
According to numerous studies, students who want to both have a job and maintain good grades should only work 10 to 15 hours a week.
SKHS senior and AP student Guliana Signorelli disagrees with that study. Signorelli said she is an A minus average student while working 24 hours a week at Belmont.
“My experiences have taught me life skills, such as learning how to file tax returns,” said Signorelli
Studies show there are many benefits to working during the school year other than the obvious reward of money.
Working gives students an opportunity to learn how to manage their time, an important skill for anyone planning to be successful. Learning time management skills also better prepares students for the vigor of college. Individuals also have the opportunity to learn good work ethic, again preparing them for success later on.
Although there are many pros, there are still some cons to working as a student.
According to South Kingstown High School senior Sammie Cahoone there is a point where working during the school year can be too much to handle. Cahoone currently works at Smoothy Booty.
“During my junior year I was working nearly every day after school, averaging to about twenty hours a week” said Cahoone. “I had to change my hours to around eleven hours to fifteen hours a week”.
Cahoone now works three nights a week, two of those fall on school nights.
“Doing both work and school can get stressful at times, but I can handle it,” said Cahoone. Cahoone said that work comes before school but she never has a problem maintaining an A average at school.
“I think working in the school year benefits me greatly,” said Cahoone. “ I am able to manage time more effectively and this will help me a lot in college,” she added.
South Kingstown senior Justine Noka also works at Marshalls while maintaining her grades in school. Justine works four days a week, three of them falling on school nights. “Totaling to about twenty to twenty-five hours a week, work interferes tremendously with my school work, leaving little time for me to do homework,” Noka said.
However, for Noka, school always comes first. Noka worked five days a week, but said she dropped one day to focus more on school work.
“I feel that working is beginning to prepare me more for when I get out of school,” said Noka.
South Kingstown High School senior Jamie Thomas also works during the school year. Thomas works fifteen to twenty hours a week at Fat Bellies.
Three out of the four days she works are school nights.
Thomas admits that sometimes it is difficult to manage both school and work.
“The only problem with managing school and work are things like bigger projects and essays,” said Thomas.
“Often times when I get home from work I am too tired to do school work, so I put it off.” Although it is difficult at times, Thomas said she has benefited greatly from her working experience.
“Working has helped me mature, I’ve learned many life lessons just from working with adults” Thomas said. “I will also have experience when I’m older and know how to behave in the workplace” Thomas added.
“I know my experience will come in handy in the future,” said Thomas.
For South Kingstown High School senior Guliana Signorelli, school always comes first. Signorelli works at least 24 hours a week, four days a week, three of them being school nights. “At times I definitely think it can be hard to manage both work and school,” said Signorelli.
Though working and keeping up with school can be tough, Signorelli maintains an A minus average, while taking AP and honors classes.
Signorelli believes that besides getting a paycheck each week work is beneficial .
“My communication and problem solving skills have definitely improved from having to constantly deal with customers complaints,” said Signorelli.
All four students can agree that working is worth their while. They feel better prepared for their futures and learned a lot from their experiences in the workplace. Although they all struggled at points to maintain both school and work, they all managed to work it out.
Even though studies suggest ten to fifteen hours a week, Justine maintains grades while working twenty to twenty-five hours a week.
Although it gets tough, they all agree that they are more prepared from their working experiences for their life beyond high school.
