For our generation, the decisions about when, why and where someone starts working are varying and personal. Whether working to support family, accumulate savings, or for social camaraderie or general experience, work fills a diverse set of important desires and necessities depending on the individual. A common, collective benefit can be found across many youth employment experiences, though: finding self-worth and purpose.
Whether they’re scooping ice cream on the Plaza, working a cash register at McDonald’s or helping run a family construction business, teens are finding something intrinsically rewarding in having a job, especially during the summer. We’re at an age where independence is blossoming within us, so going through the process of working and getting rewarded, through pay or otherwise, brings a sense of self-worth and responsibility, and of making a real-world contribution and difference.
This ability to see the results of our work in an immediate fashion stands in contrast to other experiences such as school. In a classroom, we acquire information in a sort of cycle, rarely getting a concrete path to branch off from the loop and apply learned content to the next societal level, at least in the short term. On the other hand, in the work environment, gained knowledge is almost instantly put to use in consequential situations. The benefit is twofold: pride and satisfaction on an individual level and also on a community level, both of which are rewarding and necessary for teens’ overall well-being.
For example, I have been working this summer as a Youth Conservation Corps crew member at the Santa Fe Children’s Museum with a team of five other teens. For five days a week, starting at 7 a.m., we work on the grounds of the museum doing projects relating to sustainable gardening, landscaping and general facilities maintenance/conservation. What makes the work crew especially dynamic are the different reasons each of us gave for why we initially took the job: Some of us work for the paycheck, some work to keep busy, some work for the social community and some work to gain more knowledge about the tasks involved in the job.
Recently after an afternoon of raking, leaf blowing, weeding, pruning and shoveling in the arid summer warmth, a co-worker and I talked about how rewarding it felt to be sore after a shift; to practice teamwork and persistence; and to see firsthand how the impact of our work makes the museum grounds more charming, welcoming and composed.
Ultimately, the reasons a teen works vary tremendously, which also means the benefits are different for every person. Still, collectively teens can share a common satisfaction: feeling more accomplished, purposeful, responsible and, in the end, independent.
Maia Hillock-Katz will be a junior at New Mexico School for the Arts. Contact her at maiajoycehk@gmail.com.
