Riverside Brookfield High School is nearing the end of first semester, and the workload keeps piling up. There’s some concern for students and their ability to juggle school, work, and their personal life especially since there are a large number of students who hold outside of school jobs.
Izzy Hernandez, a senior at RB, is a student who works two jobs.
“During the weekdays, I work at a daycare in Downtown Brookfield called Alphabet Learning Center, and then on the weekends, I’m a hostess at Lucca’s in downtown LaGrange,” Hernandez said.
Working two jobs along with being a student can be difficult for most. Nevertheless, Hernandez seems to have it down.
“Since I work pretty much the same hours I always have, I’ve worked out a pretty good schedule for the work I do in school. When I’m in school, I know it’s really time for me to lock in. When I get home from work, I have to do anything I couldn’t finish during the school day,” Hernandez said.
Although Hernandez has a good system for herself, that doesn’t mean it’s always easy. When school work and professional work start to pile up it can be difficult
“During finals and during busier times of the year, like AP testing, it gets pretty hard and really stressful. As long as I’m keeping up with all my work, it’s usually fine,” Hernandez said.
Lia Crancich is also an RB senior who has a job. Crancich works every day after school at a daycare.
“Work has actually been really good for me. My work environment has given me a place to get a break from academics,” Crancich said.
Sometimes work can be a useful environment for students, since having a place other than home and school is important. Work can be a setting to meet new people or learn new skills.
“Work has really helped me with my mental health from what school has done. In school, there’s way too much pressure; a lot of the time, I feel like I am forced to ignore my other responsibilities,” Crancich said.
Having to complete work for multiple classes along with a lack of leniency from teachers can be very stressful.
“[Teachers] don’t care how it impacts how I work in school. If I make comments about my other responsibilities, they just say they don’t care,” Crancich said.
It’s not only teachers though. A lot of the time employers forget that their employees are still students and have many other obligations.
“One of my bosses has no understanding of the fact that I’m a student and have homework. I can’t stay an extra half hour without them asking me because I have responsibilities outside of work,” Hernandez said.
Elena Caballero is a junior at RB and works during the school year as well at Nothing Bundt Cakes in La Grange.
“I work ahead of time in my classes. I make sure I am in a good place before the weekend so I can stress less while I am working,” Caballero said.
Caballero regularly gets off of work at 7 p.m. on the weekdays, so it gives her time to do her school work. It’s manageable for her to balance work but the load of homework depends on the week and the teacher.
“Most of my teachers offer before-school help, so it’s easier to do my things. They don’t know I work. My bosses are understanding that I have other priorities, and they always ask me how school is going,” Caballero said.
Reyes Almeida is a senior at RB and works throughout the school year. He works as a server at California Pizza Kitchen. Almeida has a hard time balancing school with work because it takes up most of his time while he could be focusing on school.
“It is very difficult to balance work and school. Work takes a lot of time out of my day that I could be devoting to school, but it also helps me to not be so obsessive over my schoolwork,” Almeida said.
Some teachers are more understanding of the responsibilities teenagers have when managing multiple obligations than others.
“I think some of my teachers and most of my bosses are understanding of my situation. I think teachers forget that school isn’t the only thing going on in our lives; school isn’t our only job,” Almeida said.
Students also have other responsibilities besides school and work, such as maintaining their well-being. Self-care is a necessity that gets overlooked a lot of the time.
“I definitely sleep a lot less because of it. It’s hard to do all of them: school, work, maintain a healthy and balanced lifestyle, and keep a good sleep schedule on top of that,” Hernandez said.
Even if students are doing well with handling school and work, it can be difficult for them to find time to take care of themselves even though that is one of the most important things to prioritize.
“I don’t really even have time on the weekends. Friday and Sunday, I’m still doing homework. So it’s really just one day out of the week that I really get to myself,” Crancich said.
Between school and work, sometimes it really is just too much to be able to complete everything you need to.
“To get everything done and to be productive in every aspect I would like to be, between schoolwork and other things, there’s not really enough time,” Hernandez said.
At times, such a large amount of obligations can take a toll on a teenager’s mental health because of the many things they need to do.
“I think school has done more damage than work. At work, you clock in, do your job, and then clock out. You don’t have to think about your job until you clock back in again, but school is more constant. You wake up, get ready for school, go to school, go home, and prepare for school the next day by studying, doing your homework, etc.,” Almeida said.
