Summer means taking a break from school for a couple of months. It is a time to invest in interests, whether that be attending a summer camp, visiting grandparents, spending time at the beach, or working. 

Celia Deming, a freshman at Georgetown University, created her own summer job by what’s available in her neighborhood. 

“Over the summer, I do a lot of yard work, as well as babysitting for my neighbors, family, and friends,” Deming said. 

Deming completes her summer work to save up for big purchases.  

“I’ve been saving up for a car since I was about 12 years old, that has been my main goal,” Deming said. “Everything that I have earned since then has gone into a fund for my car.”

Deming believes she has gained many benefits, aside from finances, from her jobs as a teenager. 

“I definitely think that working has taught me the value of $1 and definitely the value of responsibility,” Deming said. “I’m not going to be a teenager forever and have to get a real job and learn that if I don’t show up, I don’t get the benefits.”

From her experience, Deming has built up many client relationships. 

“The Lyon Park newspaper, they have places where teenagers can put their information in there,” Deming said. “I bring in [work] from my neighbors. On average, I can work for about 10 to 12 people on a consistent basis.”

Since Deming has quite the client base, she needs a reliable way to track her income. 

“A lot of the money that I receive is either through Venmo or through cash,” Deming said. “I have an account and usually just give the cash to my parents, and I have my parents put that money into my account for me.”

While Deming has learned many skills on the job, she also has school resources to support her. 

“My school, Georgetown Visitation Preparatory School, teaches me a lot about time management,” Deming said. “I have a class called Freshmen Council because I am a freshman. They teach you how to manage your schoolwork as well as other activities that you have outside of that [school].”

Senior Anne Licato is a Synchronized Swimming (Synchro) coach at Overlee Community Association. Licato has long been involved in Synchro, so becoming a coach was an important next step for her. 

“I swam at Overlee and I am on the Synchro team,” Licato said. “I started in 2014. I joined a competitive team and the second I was eligible to be hired, I got lifeguard certified.”

She has learned a lot of important skills from working with children. 

“I’ve learned a lot about leadership and how to teach things effectively,” Licato said. “I’m teaching groups of 8-11 year olds new skills that are really difficult and challenging and are things that I have done for years. It’s taught me a lot of good skills about teaching others and a lot about patience. Working with children, you have to be very patient with them, so you can work with them effectively. It was something I always wanted to do.”

Licato has long been inspired to be a synchro coach. 

“When I started [Synchro], I looked up to the coaches because they were all teenagers and they all swam competitively,” Licato said. “Just doing the program for so many years, being one of the swimmers, I knew I wanted to coach there.”

Overall, Licato is glad she chose to be a Synchro coach as she enjoys the opportunities and skills she has gained. 

“I think it’s a great way to get more people involved in our sport because there’s not very many of us,” Licato said. “It’s also super fun. I really enjoy working with children. I know some people don’t, but I really like it. I think you learn a lot about what skills you already have. This has always been a set thing that I do over the summer. I’ve done it for the past three years now. It’s stayed consistent. Even before that, I was always at Overlee for the concurrent program because I was a swimmer there.”

Senior Henry Frickert has participated in multiple summer jobs throughout high school. 

“I did two summer jobs,” Frickert said. “One was volunteer work at a summer program for kids who go to underprivileged public schools, although that was volunteer work. I also worked at a sleepaway camp for a month. I was a camp counselor with kids.”

Like Licato, Frickert also got involved in his summer program after participating as a camper for many years. 

“The summer volunteer program is called Horizons, and I got into it because it’s run out of my old school,” Frickert said. “I went to a private school and they host this camp every summer. After my last year as a camper, they offered me a position as a first year counselor.”

Frickert learned about his working preferences, particularly that he does not enjoy being around children and what it is like to participate in management. 

“My jobs tend to do with child care for children: taking care of children and educating children,” Frickert said. “To some extent or degree, I would definitely say I’ve more or less learned that I don’t like childcare work. It’s not really my thing, but I did it. I learned what it’s like to be under management and have to go to meetings. I learned a lot of different things over the summer.” 

Frickert recommends that students who decide to participate in childcare activities realize if they enjoy working with children before they begin their working experience.  

“I can’t say I would do it again, but I would recommend some of my friends who I know really enjoy being around children and really are happy and positive about doing things like that,” Frickert said. 

Since Frickert worked during a shortened school day schedule, he had opportunities to work and be with others. 

“It’s basically like an abbreviated school day. I would go in at 9:00 a.m. and then I would leave at 2:30 p.m.,” Frickert said. “I still had a bunch of free time in the mornings and evenings. I can’t say the same for working at a sleepaway camp. I slept there with a bunch of kids and I had one day off per week, that was Saturday, and that’s when I would go home and hang out with my friends.”

Frickert mentioned that homesickness is real and impacted his experience while working. 

“I missed people back home,” Frickert said. “I missed my parents and my friends, but that’s part of the reason why I didn’t love it so much. I felt disconnected from my home life, but it was doable. We had some time in the evening where we didn’t have to be with the kids to go hang out with each other. That was fun.”

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