This video takes a deeper look into the lives of two student employees. At the beginning of the pandemic, when school was not fully virtual, students were reaching for more hours to work for numerous reasons: Some want more hours just to get out of the house or to socialize because of the lack of interactions due to COVID. Some are just working to save for future college expenses.

Now, with second semester more like full face-to-face learning, those who are working 20+ hours are caught in a new crush of demands.  And senioritis doesn’t help.

Noah Wilkes, a member of the class of 2021, had some words to say about how he felt working two jobs during school. One of Wilkes’ jobs is at Ledo’s Pizza in Mount Airy 

Alex Pauley, a member of the class of 2021, also had described juggling numerous activities such as school and work, and leisure time at the gym. Alex works at Jersey Mike’s and regularly works out at Health Unlimited.

“Nearly 30% of high school students are employed in a job for at least a portion of the school year.”

Although it is less than half, a decent amount of students choose to work while learning. Having a job while trying to maintain a nice GPA is not an easy task at all. Some students don’t mind the challenge at all.”

Alex and Noah are perfect examples of what goes through the minds of students who have jobs.  Noah is a little more stressed about the situation because of all the work he does outside of school whereas Alex has a different point of view. Alex is more optimistic and almost enjoys being busy. These two points of views are relatable to many other student employees.