Allie Lancaster rolls a stack of chairs from one building to the next at Southeast Lauderdale High School. Submitted photo

Classes may be out for the summer, but that hasn’t stopped some Lauderdale County School District students from showing up to school each day as both Southeast Lauderdale and West Lauderdale welcome student workers to their staff during the break.

 

The young employees help out with a variety of tasks needing to be accomplished before the first busload of learners arrives in the fall such as cutting grass, moving furniture for waxing, assisting custodians and more.

 

Gwendolyn Crowell, principal at West Lauderdale High School, said the summer program is a win for both the school and the students. The workers provide needed manpower while earning some extra money and learning soft skills such as showing up on time, clocking in and out and other behaviors expected in the workplace.

 

This year, West Lauderdale has four student workers, she said.

 

“Every summer we get to have two on each campus, so we actually have two at the high school and two at the middle school, but us being a combined campus, we have the luxury of using all four of them on both sides of the campus,” she said.

 

The program is also helpful because it shows students some of the behind-the-scenes efforts that they don’t get to see during the year. The workers get to see that classes may not be going on, but the school is still a hub of activity, she said.

 

At Southeast Lauderdale, custodian Anthony Parker said the summer job program helps students “learn how to work.” Within a few years, the young workers will be heading out into the community to find jobs, and knowing what is expected in the workplace will benefit them as they start their careers.

 

Allie Lancaster, who will be heading into her junior year at Southeast, said her family encouraged her to get a job this summer as she had turned 16. The work so far has been great, she said, and earning her own money has been a freeing experience.

 

“You can have your own money and not have to depend on anybody else,” she said.

 

Southeast senior Austin Brown said he, too, has enjoyed having some extra spending money. Having the summer job also keeps him occupied and focused on positive things.