There is much to balance for high school students, including homework, friends, family, and more. However, especially with Christmas around the corner, there is another feat added in for many students: jobs.

It’s not easy to find work that suits the availability of busy individuals. A great deal of high schoolers are involved in at least one extracurricular activity, and some are even involved in three or four.

“I try to pick up shifts so that I can work more often,” senior Aleah Jones said, “but it’s hard because I’m so involved in the school, and I find myself busy all the time.”

The stress of buying gifts for every single friend, doing secret Santas, and just having money to spend in general is a main reason for jobs.

Although the majority of youth who are employed are making minimum wage, there are countless people who also have to pay for everything else: gas, insurance, phone bills and other expenditures that are not cheap.

“My parents paid for my car, but I still have to pay for everything else. Sometimes I wish that they would help me out because I can barely afford it on top of everything else,” junior Lilly Araiza said.