Or do… but face the consequences!
Being a student in a private school will have you in a bubble. I can testify to this as I was in one for 15 years. Even in my final yearbook page, I wrote it as advice to the younger students: break the bubble. One of the ways to do that is by working; this gets you in touch with the real world. You get to see different people and how people can treat you as a customer service worker. By default, even though this is something that should be a preset in our nature, your sense of empathy and respect grows for people behind the counter at any store.
Speaking bluntly, you are not likely to see many private school kids working in such sectors. I was the only one from one which gave me a lot of exposure to how public schools operate and the consequences of that on the students. Examples such as a difference in the schooling system and what is taught. History lesson specifically was the biggest difference in what was taught. A consistent form of exposure I have to this day is my present-day boyfriend, whom I met one month after starting to work.
september 2022
He is what I’d call a prime example of showing that you are able to sustain top grades and be an excellent worker. What was at the root of maintaining both was that he was passionate about what he studied at school, but also motivated to keep on working through the hardships of exam seasons.
It is important to mention that right before my final year of high school, I decided to reduce my amount of work to ‘enjoy my summer before it gets serious’. I would only participate on the days that there were any birthday parties, and that would occur once or twice a week, every two weeks. Once that period was over, it was time to get serious. I still worked on the weekends, but due to the fact that I was a prefect in school, there were instances where I had to reduce those days.
december 2024
october 2024
Other than being a prefect, as 7th formers, we had to organise events for the children in the years below all the way to primary. I was lucky to have experience in organizing events from work, which led to being able to host Halloween and Christmas events, which were successful and fun for the children. I have always been a character who loves planning and organizing, which was supported by the work I did at McDonald’s. Soon, that came into benefit for my year group as well.
I was organizing the prom in terms of location, supplies, and discussing with my classmates which decorations would be worth it, based on the fact that all our money was raised from our bake sales throughout the year. In the end, the venue gifted us a 1000 euro decoration. Just like that, all the teachers and families were happy and content with the fact that they hadn’t paid a penny for a great evening. I had classmates who appreciated enjoying the activities, but still, there were some who wanted to compare with schools three times our size, who just wanted a reason to complain. There are some invisible skills working at a young age teach you, which in this case would be to be grateful and not greedy.
That was another chapter closed.
june 2025
