what would you pick - high school student

clori

DIS Veteran
Joined
Dec 15, 2002
My dd is finishing up 9th grade. She has 2 summer opportunities and though both are 10-12 hours a week the hours may not work to do both. Option 1 is working 5 to 6 weeks then having a little time off. She would be getting paid (I'm guessing minimum wage which I have to look up but I think it is $8 hr). The money would be nice but its not completely necessary. The job would be local requiring dd to take the public transportation bus about 10 minutes and a small walk - something she is comfortable doing. She would be helping out at the Y aquatics doing things like helping with basic cleaning, passing out swim bubbles, working on the pool bulletin board etc but no swimming or real water responsibilities. She was told its Mon-Wed but not given actual hours. It also requires a 2 hour class on either Thursday afternoon or Friday morning but again we don't have times

Option 2 is a youth volunteer at a science museum. This requires taking the same bus then switching to a subway also something that dd can easily do and knows the way etc. If she does the afternoon shift she can get a ride home only if she waits an extra 1 to 2 hours but the time of day is awful for traffic. We have a membership so occasionally I might take younger dd there and meet her when she is done but something I would plan on regularly. The volunteer position gives dd free membership on her own plus free Omni, planetarium tickets etc. There is no pay. She would mostly be helping with simple experiments with kids ages 3-8ish but could include older kids and adults. This would start after July 4th and end the week before school starts. DD loves hands on science etc but at the moment is more interested in business.

There are other things she would like to do but understands not everything is possible. One is summer piano/voice lessons - I can't even attempt until I know her availability. There is a summer dance but once again need to know schedule and dd's hours. Usually she does a summer ice skating program Thursday evenings.

I think the money would be nice but also think perhaps the volunteer job would be better when it comes to college apps but that is just a guess. Any opinions on options. I am hoping by next Friday maybe she will know actual days/times to help make a decision.
 


Well, if money really wasn't an issue the I would take the science museum for sure. It just seems more fun and fulfilling. I had to get a real job, though not quite that young. At 16, I had to work, at least, if I wanted to drive.
 
We have a practically guaranteed scholarship for any student in our state who meets certain academic requirements. 100 volunteer hours needed. For me, and since the other job seems just short term, I would opt for the volunteer one.

My daughter would be opting for the paycheck and then finding volunteer hours in other ways.

So what does your daughter want to do?
 


I would let her decide for herself.

My DD had to choose between an awesome summer job that she loved last year. Or summer school to catch up on some credits she missed due to illness.

Either option would have great benefit for her, but she couldn't do both.

So we let her choose, knowing she would be most invested in something if was something she picked herself rather than something we told her she should do, or she had to do.

No way to really lose as long as you have 2 good options.
 
My dd is finishing up 9th grade. She has 2 summer opportunities and though both are 10-12 hours a week the hours may not work to do both. Option 1 is working 5 to 6 weeks then having a little time off. She would be getting paid (I'm guessing minimum wage which I have to look up but I think it is $8 hr). The money would be nice but its not completely necessary. The job would be local requiring dd to take the public transportation bus about 10 minutes and a small walk - something she is comfortable doing. She would be helping out at the Y aquatics doing things like helping with basic cleaning, passing out swim bubbles, working on the pool bulletin board etc but no swimming or real water responsibilities. She was told its Mon-Wed but not given actual hours. It also requires a 2 hour class on either Thursday afternoon or Friday morning but again we don't have times

Option 2 is a youth volunteer at a science museum. This requires taking the same bus then switching to a subway also something that dd can easily do and knows the way etc. If she does the afternoon shift she can get a ride home only if she waits an extra 1 to 2 hours but the time of day is awful for traffic. We have a membership so occasionally I might take younger dd there and meet her when she is done but something I would plan on regularly. The volunteer position gives dd free membership on her own plus free Omni, planetarium tickets etc. There is no pay. She would mostly be helping with simple experiments with kids ages 3-8ish but could include older kids and adults. This would start after July 4th and end the week before school starts. DD loves hands on science etc but at the moment is more interested in business.

There are other things she would like to do but understands not everything is possible. One is summer piano/voice lessons - I can't even attempt until I know her availability. There is a summer dance but once again need to know schedule and dd's hours. Usually she does a summer ice skating program Thursday evenings.

I think the money would be nice but also think perhaps the volunteer job would be better when it comes to college apps but that is just a guess. Any opinions on options. I am hoping by next Friday maybe she will know actual days/times to help make a decision.

I think she should chose whichever one sounds more interesting to her.

If it were ME, I'd pick number 2. The volunteer position sounds a lot more interesting to me. And if she is a kid that will be in leadership positions in other activities, the volunteer job would give her more 'experience' for that sort of thing. It also might count toward required community service hours if your school requires that. And finally, my daughter didn't make National Honor Society because they said she didn't have 'enough' volunteer work and leadership positions. She had a few, but apparently not enough different ones. Had I been aware of that when she was younger, I would have guided her toward a couple different things that she decided not to pursue.
 
Does either one have the opportunity for growth and advancement? Basically if she does well this summer and gets good feedback from her supervisor could she given greater responsibility the following summer and so on? That fact is what looks good on college applications. Sticking with something and moving up within a workplace or volunteer position. Then after doing that for multiple summers than she will hopefully be able to score an impressive reference from someone within the organization and some interesting anecdotes for admission essays.
 
at 15 I would let her enjoy her summer, for only 10 hours a week the job would not be worth her time, let her do the piano and voice lessons, she has the rest of her life to work, next year at 16 she would get more hours and a better job
 
at 15 I would let her enjoy her summer, for only 10 hours a week the job would not be worth her time, let her do the piano and voice lessons, she has the rest of her life to work, next year at 16 she would get more hours and a better job
I like this idea. Being a kid myself(14 in July) I do enough work while at school all year. The Summer is the time to have fun with friends, have sleepovers, go to the Mall, and stay up late. I know I would not want to use my Summertime to work even though it is only 10-12 hours a week. I have my whole life to start working and starting next year I am going to have to get volunteer hours for school requirement anyway. Let her have some fun this Summer. Just another kids 2 cents.
 
The problem with just "being a kid" in the summer is it won't be long before that "kid" is...

* Wanting a car
* Needing a prom dress
* Looking at colleges

Even though it's only 10-12 hours a week, getting a little bit of income now will help out in the future.
 
I would go paid but one poster brought up a good point with NHS...if she needs those volunteer hours I would do that first, although there was room on DS17's NHS app for a working job and that was taken into consideration. We are doing the college tours now and paid jobs are now looked at more favorably then they did in the past. All the college admission people have been telling us paid jobs are just as important as volunteer hours.
 
I believe this is dd18's fourth summer at her job. She used to get part time hours, and now she works overtime every week. It seems like every 16 year old around here is desperate for a summer job, and those who already have work experience have a much better chance of being hired. Dd's employer likes her enough that they hired her brother!
 

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