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Summer Jobs
by Nicole Nielsen

Money, money, money! We all want it, we all need it, we all spend it, but do we all make it? Quite a few Valley students do. Here are some of the ways students earned money this summer.

FOOD: Senior Brad Mclaughlin spent most of his summer learning the ins and outs of Round Table Pizza. “Round Table made me realize that I never want to work in a restaurant ever again,” said Mclaughlin. “It was hard at first, but it became easier as I learned more and became more familiar with everything.” Mclaughlin is not the only student involved with food at Valley. Ever since her freshman summer, senior Shaelyn Hanes has worked at Togo’s/ Baskin Robins in Morgan Hill. Over the summer, she was promoted to night supervisor. “It’s sort of difficult having to tell kids my age what to do. They don’t really want to listen.  Other than that, it’s not too bad.”  On top of making sandwiches and scooping ice cream, her supervisor duties included counting the money at night, bringing deposits to the bank, and making sure all employees completed their nightly tasks.

RETAIL: Senior Eric Stashak could be found three or more days a week in the Men’s Department at Macy’s. There he would check and clean the dressing rooms, help customers find the perfect shirt, and work at the cash register. “I didn’t make a ton of money, but it was super easy and I basically ran the place,” Stashak said. Senior Maricela Galaviz spent her summer working at her dad’s real estate office, Help-U-Sell Evergreen Properties as a transaction coordinator, helping her dad sell houses. Her tasks included designing marketing flyers, copying and faxing documents, filing, answering phones, scheduling open houses, preparing disclosure packages, ordering reports/inspections and opening escrows. Senior Selena Ma has spent the past year and a half working at Zumiez in Oakridge Mall. Her favorite part of working at Zumiez is making new friends. “Sometimes it’s a little overwhelming because people mistake my friendliness for flirting. I’m on commission so I have to make a lot of sales. But, of course, I’d rather sell shirts than sandwiches!”
 
AMUSEMENT PARKS:  Juniors Kelly Straub, Thalia Thrappas, and Brendan Hughes accompanied sophomore Emma Merrick as they worked at the Morgan Hill Aquatics Center this past summer. There time was spent in the snack shack, helping prepare food and serve the hungry swimmers. “We enjoyed purposely breaking the cookies and churros so we could eat them ourselves,” said Merrick, “and after the center closed, we were allowed to go on all the water slides!” Thrappas stated.  “ I loved working with my close friends, even if I didn’t enjoy my job that much.” Senior Stephanie Stead’s favorite part of working at Bonfonte Gardens was “bringing a smile to all the little children’s faces.” She worked as a ride operator for rides such as the Garlic Swirl, Strawberry Sundae, and the Banana Split. “It was a very...different experience. I worked with a lot of different people with a lot of different backgrounds and lifestyles, but everyone I worked with made it fun.”

 INTERNSHIPS:  Jake Viramontez took on a more “professional” job this summer.  He spent 3 or more hours a day at Design Reactor, a local multimedia company.  “During my amazing hours at Design Reactor, I learned many life skills, and was in a state of complete euphoria.  Plus I liked editing and working with videos.” 

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