The warmth of the sun and the smell of sunscreen signals it’s time for summer. As the season approaches, teens are planning out their summer with vacations and camps, but what about filling the rest of that free time with something more productive?

In the summer, teenagers look for opportunities to spend their time doing something fun or beneficial like service hours, new hobbies and self care activities. Along with the fact that not everybody has the chance to go on vacation because of busy schedules or financial problems. This gives teenagers a two-month window to find a fun job, such as being a lifeguard, a country club clerk or working at an ice cream parlor. 

“During the summer I work at Rita’s in Vienna and all the money I make I choose to put towards savings so that I can save up for college,” Mariam Fatima (’26) said. “College tends to be really pricey, so having that money to use towards that definitely helps.”

One of the more obvious benefits from having a job in your teenage years is getting to earn their own source of income. Students can choose to save up or spend on themselves. It can also help students develop different types of skills: learning how to save money, learning how to work on a team and with others, and branching out with other cultures and people depending on the job. These skills can be used towards school and daily life, and some benefits can also be just fun little things like tanning  as a lifeguard or getting to travel out of state for camp. 

Most jobs in Virginia require students to be at least 16 years old to work without a work license. While the intention of the age minimum is to protect underage workers, it also makes sure that workers are able to drive themselves around. This ensures reliability and flexibility from workers. During the summer, students’ calendars are more freed up than during the school year making it easier for students to get jobs. 

“I worked at Clarity during the summer,” Adam Forbes (’25) said. “And I got the job by walking in, saying ‘can I apply for this job?’ and he said ‘when can you start?’” 

Students can also take advantage of summer by job shadowing or interning which will take a lot of time out of a boring summer by allowing students to learn a little more about something they’re interested in or just being able to take a chunk of your time at a fun place. 

“I worked at a summer camp last year and I loved it,” Alec Heidt (’25) said. “It was fun getting away from home and making money while being on vacation.”

While making money is fun, students should also make room in their schedule for social time. Summer may seem long when starting out, but it flies by pretty quickly; so making time for friends, family and activities that you enjoy can make student’s summers more balanced and productive.