The Troubling Task of Working Junior Year

By Kennedy Purcey

staff writer

Addie Imfield, courtesy of the Imfield's

With junior year comes a great deal of responsibilities. Many students begin strategizing their future: what college they want to attend and what career they would like to pursue. Juniors also have the opportunity to take AP classes. In addition to undergoing the chance of taking AP exams, the SATs and ACTs are in the spring. Most students also have a job in the mix of all of the chaos.

There is an assortment of juniors who have the troubling task of balancing school, extracurricular activities, a social life and a job. Addie Imfeld, a Northview junior, stated that keeping her footing on all of it is burdensome. It has even accounted for her drop in academics. “Getting all my homework in after working three or four hours a night on a school night is not the easiest task. And then I don’t have time to hang out with my friends,” Imfeld stated. Having a job has consumed the sum of her free time and several other working students have expressed that as well. Imfeld copes with the demands of junior year by getting less than six hours of sleep each night after doing her homework. Gavyn Webb, another Northview junior, has learned to prioritize by the notion that school is more significant than his job, so it comes first. 

While work can be demanding, a student can acquire first hand knowledge in the work force. Imfeld mentioned that she has learned responsibility from being a team member and has grasped the idea of time management. Obtaining a job in high school is no simple task, but the skills that are learned are rewarding. Imfeld and Webb both agree that a student will benefit more from starting a job in high school rather than waiting until they are older. “You’re younger and it teaches you more along the lines of responsibility,” said Webb. The value of money and responsibility may not seem vital in high school while a student has their parents to hold them up, but it is an important life skill to acquire at a young age.

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