Several days a week, Tyrone freshman Alita Fernandes leaves school at 2:55 to begin her shift at Grier School by 4 pm. She doesn’t get off of work until at least 7:45 pm. She often doesn’t have time to get all of her homework done in the evening, so she usually gets it done in advisory, but that doesn’t always work out.

“On days when I have a lot of homework I sometimes can’t get it all done, and when I have to work I want to see my friends, but I can’t,” said Fernandez.

According to a survey of last year’s 2017 graduating class, 70% of Tyrone seniors reported that they had an after school and/or summer job. Many underclassmen also struggle to get all of their homework done and keep their grades up while having jobs.

Junior Anna Beck works at Unkle Joe’s Woodshed in Altoona.  Right now, she only works on the weekends, so it’s easier to balance work and school. But, when it comes to social life, she sometimes struggles to make time for things other than work and school.

“I’m always sacrificing my social life for work. I work every weekend both days, and even during the holidays. Especially during this time of year, I am sacrificing. Sometimes I work 12-9 and it’s impossible to do anything[with friends],” said Beck.

According Data Bank’s Child Trends, Students who work more than 20 hours a week may have lower grade point averages and are more likely to drop out of school than those who work fewer hours.

“ [working during school] is manageable, but sometimes there are nights where homework or tests keep me up later than I would like,” said senior Christian Fink, who works at Save-A-Lot about 28 hours a week.

Unfortunately, many teachers don’t take into account that students may work most weeks and weekends.

“I wish teachers would give us more time in class[to get my work done.] I go from school to swim practice and then to work. I don’t have a study hall to get it done,” said freshman Lucia Isenburg.

That’s difficult when teachers might not know who or how much their students are working during the week.

“My advice to students who work is to communicate with their teachers,” said social studies and journalism teacher Todd Cammarata, “We might not always be able to do something, but if we don’t know we definitely can’t help.”