Life is expensive, especially for students in high school (and their parents). With the average cost of a Dunkin refresher at over $5 and typical college tuition costing upwards of $40,000 per year, many students take on the responsibility of a job over the summer to help contribute to some of these costs. Students at Waterford High School have a variety of options for summer employment, including various summer camps and internships.
A popular summer job in Waterford is to work for the Waterford Youth Services’ Camp Dash. Many volunteers and counselors there attended Dash as campers when they were younger and like to return and give back to the program and community. Junior Andrew Benvenuti started as a camper when he was in elementary school, and became a volunteer in middle school. He became a paid member of the staff the summer before his sophomore year.
Benvenuti says “I like working at camp Dash because of all the connections through the town and youth services.” Working at a summer camp like Dash is a good way to develop experience for students interested in pursuing a career in education. Benvenuti is looking to become a teacher, and he believes that working at Dash has given him a background that will help him in the future.
Senior Alex Seltzer has spent the last few summers working at the June Norcross Webster Scout Reservation (JNW) as a camp counselor. Seltzer has been a Boy Scout for most of his life, achieving the rank of Eagle Scout in the past year. When asked how he got involved with JNW, he said that “as a scout, being [at camp] was my favorite week of the summer.” Many scout troops spend a few weeks in the summer at this reservation to work on merit badges and camp in the woods.
As a counselor, Seltzer worked in the Ecology Conservation area and led the Astronomy merit badge program, experiences which helped him to decide on a career path for the future. Though he wouldn’t recommend this job to just anyone, for those who already have scouting experience, “I couldn’t recommend it more.”
One program that has grown in popularity in recent years is the Electric Boat (EB) Summer High School Internship (SHIP). Students who take drafting at WHS are encouraged to apply to this prestigious program, especially if they are considering a career in drafting or welding post-graduation. Senior Ben Stewert spent the summer between his junior and senior year working as a drafting intern. Stewart described the experience as “dry at times,” but overall felt it was worth his time.
SHIP students get paid above minimum wage, and Stewert was happy that he “ended the summer with a lot of money saved up” which he plans to use to help pay for college. He would recommend the job, especially to students interested in working for EB or in the drafting industry in the future: “It lets future potential employers know that you have experience working for a well respected company, and that you had the aptitude to get chosen to work for such a company.”
Having a summer job is a great way to prepare for the future, both financially and developmentally. It prepares students for the real world while creating a bit of spending room in the average teenage budget. Summer jobs build character and fill up an empty schedule, and are highly recommended by the students of WHS.
