Instead of sleeping in on a weekend morning, senior Darya Dayanim is up before the sun at an urban farm, maintaining hydroponic towers and growing produce for people living with food insecurity. Dayanim works as an urban farmer for Cultivate the City, where she grows produce for Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) packages. She also runs monthly plant markets for wholesale, in addition to helping those with food insecurity.
“It’s a source of happiness and relief for me because I’m getting to be outside, and I’m doing what I love,” Dayanim said. “It’s a break from my schoolwork. Once I come home and I’m doing schoolwork, I’m super efficient because I just got to not spend time in a building for seven hours.”
Dayanim works on the weekends and two evenings a week after school. She mostly waters plants, removes weeds, harvests and maintains the facilities. Getting a job in high school has always been a priority for Dayanim, as it was important to her to make her own money and have the responsibility of a job at a young age.
While Dayanim tends and maintains plants, senior Hannah Shank coaches kids on the tumbling and trampoline team at Silver Stars Gymnastics in Silver Spring. Shank used to be a member of the team and now works there as an assistant coach.
Making money in high school is important to Shank and, in the process, has also taught her many important life skills, such as earning the trust of kids who perform a dangerous sport.
“How to work with kids and coaching them I feel like is different than being a camp counselor because, in the gym that I work in, my boss/head coach really values respect between the coaches and the athletes,” Shank said.
Shank’s biggest advice is understanding the priority her job holds in relation to school. This helps her set boundaries at the gym. Jobs in high school are often at the expense of other school activities, and Shank explained that it is critical to establish early on in their jobs the importance of the job.
Because jobs are a big commitment, Shank said that students should pick a job that aligns with their passions and is something that will make them happy as they will be spending a lot of time at it.
Sophomore Ella Longman also loves her job at Baskin Robbins in Potomac Woods. She started working there on the shop’s opening day and got the job because she wanted to be able to be more financially independent. She works with other high school students not only scooping ice cream but also maintaining the store by refilling ice cream, cleaning tables, cleaning equipment, sweeping and cleaning the floor.
“I really like all the people that I work with, and I have fun at night when I’m working with them,” Longman said. “Because during the day I work with my boss, but at night it’s fun to work with other kids. Normally, I see one or two people that I know when I’m working at night, so that’s always nice.”
From the wide variety of jobs, Dayanim, Shank, and Longman have all learned different life lessons. The one that was common throughout was the value of flexibility and understanding that being at a junior level requires a lot of hard work.
“Be really flexible and be willing to take advice and to learn from other people. You’re starting at the bottom of the totem pole when you’re in high school with a job,” Longman said. “Follow everyone’s lead, be flexible and learn and be willing to change the way you do things.”
