Between attending school five days a week, tackling their daily loads of homework, and taking part in extracurricular activities, many LSE students occupy their free time with a job. Employment opportunities can be hard to find at this age, and for the students who do find them it can be difficult to handle at times, but a job can also be a really good experience. Jobs allow students to learn about managing time and money, but on the contrary, they are also time consuming and are sometimes physically demanding.

Here are the job-related opinions and experiences of four Southeast students.

SHIFT LEADER AT PLATO’S CLOSET

Summer Wardyn (12)

For close to two years now, LSE senior Summer Wardyn has worked in several different positions at retail store, Plato’s Closet. Starting her experience there as a sales associate and making her way up to a shift leader has been an overall good experience for her. She became interested in this job at 15-years-old after a few of her friends became employed there, and after realizing that she wanted to purchase a car of her own.

There are many positive aspects to her job, such as the reasonable flow of income, the new viewpoints on working she has gained and the discounts. However, Wardyn lives outside of Lincoln, and is involved in Student Council, Speech and Yearbook, so getting to her job and making time for it can be difficult.

  Despite these roadblocks over the years, Wardyn has had a manager who is usually considerate of the other things going on in her life, and that has made a huge difference.

“During speech season, it was really hard for me to balance going to practice and going to work. Thankfully, my manager is pretty flexible,” Wardyn said. “And when we do time off requests, you have to have a two week notice if you want to get time off for, like school events and stuff. They’re pretty understanding, but it definitely has been a task to manage all my time and everything like that.”

THE NICU AND PEDiATRiCS AT BRYAN EAST HOSPiTAL

McKenzie Fischer (12)

At 14-years-old, LSE senior McKenzie Fischer became employed at Culver’s. Shortly after that she started working at Hillcrest Country Club, and finally she worked at Bubbles and Blocks daycare for about eight months. Therefore as a senior, she had a lot of job experience under her belt before accepting a position at the NICU and Pediatrics Center at Bryan East Hospital a few months ago.

As many may imagine, this is not an easy job. But for Fischer, the difficulty is worth it, considering that she loves her job so much. She feels that working there keeps her busy, is a rewarding way to get paid and allows her to get out and meet other people in the medical field. Additionally, Fischer has a very flexible schedule because she is a PRN (which is a part-time nursing employee), and as a result, her job is less of a commitment. As a PRN, she ends up working about four days a week, and is usually assigned six and a half hour shifts.

“I love it. I love working. I think it’s so fun. It gives me something to do and it gives me my own money to spend,” Fischer said. “[But] it’s definitely stressful. Like, you have to know what you’re doing. You can’t slack, that’s for sure. You need to be on top of it.”

BARiSTA AT SCOOTER’S

Audrey Krausnick (11)

Making drinks, taking orders, and long hours of standing is what a normal day at work looks like for Southeast junior and barista at Scooter’s, Audrey Krausnick. During the summer of 2023, Krausnick accepted her first job, aside from babysitting, and became a new addition to the Scooter’s staff. Ever since, she has gained more skills and experience at her job, and has made many new friends.

Krausnick usually has shifts varying from four to six hours every workday. The majority of these are on the weekend, with a few sprinkled throughout the school week. One issue with her job is making time for it. Homework, violin and tennis are big parts of her life as well, so sometimes fitting work into her schedule is tricky. When something important comes up and Krausnick finds getting to her job difficult, it’s hard for the Scooter’s staff to find a shift cover on such short notice. This means that her absence is often felt by the whole team.

Krausnick believes that this job is mainly a way to earn gas money and receive a bit of extra cash, but it’s also been a good experience for her and she’s made some acquaintances along the way.

PIZZA MAKER AT PIEZANO’S

Landon Koepke  (11)

After many months of washing dishes at local pizza restaurant Piezano’s, LSE junior Landon Koepke was promoted to a different job in the kitchen–one that involves a bit more dough. Koepke begins each shift by preparing fresh pizzas, he then bakes and slices them, and hands the finished products to the servers. He believes this change in positions is definitely an upgrade, and he has found his job to be quite enjoyable so far.

Koepke was presented with various opportunities to learn about job responsibilities when volunteering at a summer camp his freshman year. However, his current employment is his first ever paid job. Working about 15 hours a week – usually on Sundays, Mondays and Wednesdays – he occasionally finds it difficult to fit work into his schedule, but he puts a few days aside to make up school assignments. Koepke also lives within walking distance from Piezano’s, so his main means of transport is by foot, which is pretty convenient.

For the most part, Koepke believes that there are more positive aspects of his job as a pizza maker than not, and he plans to work there a while longer.

“I like everyone I work with, and my work schedule is really flexible. So at any point I can change it last second if I need to,” Koepke said. “[And all of] my managers are nice. I get decent pay, and the job isn’t too difficult. It’s pretty fun for me.”