From babysitting in the series “The Baby-Sitters Club” to scooping ice cream in the show “Stranger Things,” summer jobs are deeply embedded in American popular culture. Tasks such as mowing lawns, delivering newspapers, and lifeguarding may not be the most glamorous jobs,but they’re integral parts of American life and have been since at least the 1950s according to Pew Research.
The number of young people working summer jobs decreased dramatically in the 2000s and has only just begun to rise again since COVID-19, with one in three working over the summer in July of 2023, according to an Education Next article. But do high schoolers at Parker have summer jobs? Many of them actually do.
Of the students who responded to the survey sent out to the Upper School, around 66% had a summer job. Students either got a job to earn money or to keep themselves occupied with something productive.Besides these examples, there are many other benefits to working during your free time. Working at any job, whether it’s related to the career you want or not, provides great experience and helps to fill out a resume. Summer jobs can help teach teenagers life lessons and practical skills to prepare them for when they graduate. Students who get a summer job are 7% more likely to graduate high school, according to Education Next.
There are also drawbacks to working a summer job. “Sometimes I have to choose between things I want to do and things I need to do for the job,” sophomore B Hirsch said.
“The cons would be not being able to hang out with friends when they are going out and taking time out of your summer to work hard,” freshman Sloane Trukenbrod said. Still, Hirsch and Trukenbrod agree that a summer job is worth it.
When asked how they decided which job they wanted, both Hirsch and Trukenbrod found opportunities and jumped on them. Hirsch was connected to a paid apprenticeship with Young Chicago Authors through Slam Poetry Club, where she was able to help build writing curriculum with other high schoolers. “I love poetry and education, so the job was a perfect fit,” Hirsch said.
“I know I love working with kids, and I love STEM,” said Trukenbrod. So, he applied to be a camp counselor at a science camp.
Of the students who responded to the survey, the most popular summer job was a camp counselor, followed by jobs involving customer service, and then babysitters. Almost a third of students chose to work in a job that involved younger kids.
“Most people think kids are just problematic, but I think I’ve learned more from them than my adult mentors,” Trukenbrod said. “They’re more like little energetic friends than students.”
Other Parker students worked a variety of jobs such as a worker on an urban farm, a tennis camp counselor, and working at a boutique. Some people opted for internships or volunteer work instead, such as interning at Goldman Sachs or volunteering at a refugee camp.
Next summer is a great time to get a job because of Chicago’s major teen employment programs: Summer Youth Employment and One Summer Chicago.
The Summer Youth Employment program offers many job opportunities for people aged fourteen to twenty-four in Chicago. Mayor Brandon Johnson recently increased the program’s budget to seventy-six million dollars.
The second program is One Summer Chicago. The program is six weeks long and offers paid jobs for sixteen to twenty-four year olds. They hope to employ twenty eight thousand people this summer, which is an increase from last year. The program’s ultimate goal is to teach teens, specifically in lower income neighborhoods, life skills as well as decrease violent crime by getting teens off the streets in high crime months such as July.
These are just some ideas about a job for next summer. But no matter what Parker students choose, they will be part of the history of summer jobs that spans decades and generations.
