Stay Busy Over Summer
Sarah Kimmel (11) monitors the pool, while on her lifeguarding duty.
As the school year is coming to an end, summer is quickly approaching. Beginning in less than a month, many students are starting to make summer plans and figure out what they are going to do on their break. Many students are considering summer jobs. If you are one of those people who doesn’t know where to start, here are some ideas on local summer jobs.
Camp Counselor
A camp counselor will take on many adventures while supervising children of all age groups. Counselors are leaders and role models for all of the children within their camp. So keep in mind these main skills you will need to be a counselor: you should like kids, have patience, good communication, and problem-solving skills. This is a perfect job for people that think they may want to work with children or go into education. If you think camp counseling is the job for you, some local camps are Cove Valley, Camp Joy El, Whitetail Adventure Camp, and Mercersburg Academy Adventure Camp.
Restaurant Work
There are many areas in a restaurant that high school students can fill: a host/hostess, waitress/waiter, busser, or dishwasher. Usually, the host duties include greeting guest and escorting the guest to their tables. As a waitress your job includes taking orders from guests, answering guest questions, and delivering food and beverages. Busser duties include cleaning off the tables once the guest leaves the restaurant and taking the dishes back to the dishwasher. The dishwasher’s duty is to clean and put away dishes. Working in a restaurant helps give students valuable communication skills.
“My favorite part of work is the connections I make with my co-workers and the free ice cream I get as a benefit,” said Breanna Dukehart (12) who works at Lizzy’s Ice Cream & Sandwich Shop as a cashier.
Grocery Work
As a stocker at a grocery store, your job would be to stack and organize items on shelves. A stocker may also work as a cashier for the day, scanning and packaging items. As a cashier, you must possess quick simple math skills to give back correct change. You must also have good communication skills when working with customers.
“I would recommend this line of work to anyone because they are very flexible, have good pay, and it’s easy work,” said Owen Monninger (12).
Lifeguard
Lifeguards have a very serious job monitoring water while keeping people safe and happy. To be a lifeguard you must be CPR- and AED-certified. As a lifeguard, you gain a lot of responsibility and become a very trusted person. Lifeguards are depended on to ensure the safety of children and adults at the pool.
“I have learned that confrontation is something that you have to do no matter what even if you don’t want to hurt little kids feelings,” said Sarah Kimmel (11).
The responsibility involved with lifeguarding means that they must put the safety of others above everything else, even if that means they can’t always be the nice guy. This is a valuable life lesson because in life everyone isn’t always going to be pleased.
Farm Work
Another popular line of work around this area is farming. Many high school students learn hard work and responsibility working on a farm over the summer. Students can do anything from milking to bailing hay during their summer job on a farm. Work could start up to as early as three A.M., so this teaches many students the discipline of getting themselves up and ready on time to milk.
Now that you have some of the most common jobs for high school students, think about which one fits you. Get out there and apply so you can stay busy and get some money during your summer break.
A Winter Wonderland
On Saturday, Feb. 9 James Buchanan hosted their annual Winter Dance from 7 to 10 p.m. Student Council is the organization responsible for the event, they also organize and plan all the other dances throughout the year. This year, they combined the Winter Dance and the Valentine’s Day Dance with a theme of Winter Wonderland.
“My favorite part about the dance is the theme,” said Taylor Piper (10).
With the theme being Winter Wonderland, Student Council hung light decorations and backdrops with a Winter theme, They also incorporated Valentine’s Day into it as well, using roses and hearts decorations.
“I think Student Council enjoys having fun and being together while they’re working together,” said Mrs. Ann Fitz (Faculty).
Student Council starts preparing for the dance early that morning at 9 a.m. until the students start crowding in that night.
With Student Council being responsible for the dance, it makes them accountable for things like the decorations, selling tickets, the DJ, and making sure there is student participation
“It gives the student body a wholesome opportunity to be together and have fun outside of school hours,” says Fitz.
While the participation isn’t as teeming with students like Homecoming or Prom, it is a dance for students to come and enjoy the night together.
The dance started at 7 p.m. and as the doors opened, students created a very prolonged line to enter the cafeteria, where the dance occurred. After a little while, all of the students in various grades were found dancing together in the middle of the floor.
The DJ also included himself in the night with interacting with the students. He picked out a handful of kids and gave them props to play a little game while dancing with everyone. Continuously talking to the student body trying to get them more rowdied up.
Many students seemed to enjoy the dance and all the people in it. It was a night for everyone to get dressed up and come together for an event.
A Tough Kick Against Lancaster Catholic
On Saturday, Oct. 27, The Lady Rockets accomplished more than just a win: for the first time ever, the Girls’ Varsity Soccer team made it to Districts, beating an undefeated team.
“We applied everything we learned in practice,” said Bella Shupp (10).
To prepare for the big game, the girls practiced penalty kicks and shooting all week. Before the game, the girls got warmed up by dancing to music and doing a team prayer.
With freezing weather, a feuding crowd, and many tough players, the Lady Rockets managed to beat Lancaster Catholic. After the long game, the girls then went into double overtime, which were each 15 minutes long, and then lead to penalty kicks.
“My favorite memory was standing next to my team during the PK-shootout,” said Shupp.
Everyone was cheering in the crowds, hoping the Lady Rockets could achieve this step. With everyone on the edge of their seats, Breanna Dukehart (12) started the first round of penalty kicks, making the first goal. After twelve long nerve-racking rounds, Jade Wolfe (10) made the last shot which lead them to victory.
“It felt like having a piece of home along for the ride,” said Addy Crouse (10). “It kind of gives us a boost of energy knowing we have their support.”
A few of our students came all the way to support our Lady Rockets and cheered them on during the game, no matter how outnumbered they were to the Lancaster Catholic Student Section.
“We were confident in each other and focused on putting everything together,” said Crouse.
After Wolfe made the winning shot, the students and parents cheered as the girls piled on top of each other.
“The adrenaline was high and everyone swarmed each other while celebrating,” says Crouse
With tears running down their faces, they ran to their families and friends to celebrate the win they did not see coming.
The Lady Rockets are now moving onto semi-finals, playing Eastern Lebanon County at Donegal High School on Wednesday, Oct. 3.
