Trying to find a good balance between work and school can be can be a very difficult thing to do – it could mean getting up early and staying up late, but the hard work pays off.

One in four of every 16 year old students in high school have a job, according to newsok.com. Whether you work only a few hours a week, or work every day, the extra hours can take a toll on how you do in school.

“Some weeks I work a lot and other weeks I hardly work at all,” senior Nathan Meland said. “The hardest part is having to get up so early in the morning for school after working a long shift.”

Having a part time job in high school can be helpful, both financially and socially, but time management is very important concept to learn. If you have to work and go to school, you can’t just pick on over the other, there has to be a balance. This is difficult because according to education.cu.edu, learning to budget time and to use it well is a skill that many students don’t learn until they’re in college or in their actual careers.  

“I’ve been working for about a year and a half now and I still don’t manage my time well,” sophomore Karisma Thompson said.

Because teens over 16 can work unlimited hours, they have the most responsibility for balancing school and work. If your job is giving you too many hours, don’t be scared to speak up and tell them you need less hours. 31% of all teenagers report being stressed out or sad, according to the American Psychological Association. The last thing any teenage student needs is to be more stressed out than they already are.

“At one point I had to tell my manager to cut my hours because I was falling too far behind in school,” Meland said. “It’s nice getting the money, but once you start falling behind in your schoolwork it’s so hard to get caught back up.”

Whether it be waiting to go in until 5 p.m. or asking to get off an hour early, fitting in some free time to study and do homework is essential to keeping your grades up.

“I just started working recently and I realized how all my friends feel now,” senior Katie Anastasio said. “It just takes so much energy, and now I have to plan everything I can do off my work schedule.”  

Being employed is a big responsibility in addition to being a good student, so before you start working consider your strengths and weaknesses in time management.