Student Job Spotlight

Studio assistant, swim coach, professional orchestra violinist. These are just a few of the many jobs high school students hold at PHS and across the Bay Area.

In this article we spotlight three students — Zoe Collard, Parker Long, and Miles Antanya. These three each offer a unique perspective and experience on what it is like having a job as a high school student. 

One similarity between all of their stories is that the pandemic greatly contributed to the reason that they got involved in their jobs.

“Last year during the pandemic I really needed something to do – a reason to get out of the house, and more responsibility so my mom suggested I interview for Ride,” said Head Royce Sophomore Zoe Collard. 

Collard has been working at Ride Oakland, a spin studio and smoothie bar, for over a year now and said that her job is something she really enjoys. 

“My job is a lot of fun. When I first started it was definitely stressful because there’s a lot of different things to remember and I was on the younger side, but now that I’ve been working there for a while, I enjoy it a lot,” she said.

For Parker Long, a current junior at PHS, who works as a swim instructor, the pandemic was a primary reason he began working as a swim coach.

“I got the job in the middle of quarantine; it was when I had nothing to do. Then it was basically my only hobby from around mid-July to November. By that time, it helped me out so much that I just knew it had to be a part of my schedule going forward,” he said. 

Miles Antanya, a current sophomore at PHS, said that although the pandemic wasn’t the reason he got involved with his job as a violinist in local, professional plays like Into the Woods and Sweeney Todd, it did impact certain parts of his experience. 

“Surprisingly the audition process was quite casual for these shows. I think a part of that is due to COVID because they were really looking for violinists,” he said.

Long, Collard, and Antaya all shared that certain aspects of their jobs were incredibly challenging at times, but could also be quite rewarding. 

As a studio assistant, Collard said that her job ranges from tasks like making smoothies and prepping for classes to checking people in. 

“You have to make sure that you’re in a good mood at work, especially at my job because I have to make clients feel welcome and like they’d want to come back. But sometimes after a long school day you’re not feeling your greatest, so it was hard for me to pull it together,” she said. 

Long also expressed that at times his job is extremely frustrating. He works with a small group of kids, helping them to improve their swimming skills. 

“Right now, I’m at a point where I’m really frustrated because I’m working with a bunch of kids who need a lot of work, but there are times where I’m working with kids who are really passionate about swimming, and it is really fun for me to help them,” he said.

Antaya shared that a hard part of his experience was that he had to learn a lot of the music on his own due to limited time with the full orchestra.  

“We only had one main rehearsal with the orchestra and as a substitute, there’s not enough room for me in the pit, so I just took notes,” he said.

Although it was challenging, Antaya said that he was happy that he got this experience. 

“It was a ton of fun. I’d totally do it again,” he said.

When asked what the main lessons they have learned from being employed, each responded differently.

“I learned throughout my time at Ride to not be so hard on myself, and to just let myself learn and not expect to be great at something that I’ve never done before,” Collard said.

As for Long, the chief lesson he learned was the benefits that come from hard work.

“The better I do, the more I get paid, and the more successful it will be for me. I don’t have that relationship with school yet where I can immediately feel better about my success. It’s just a stat online but with my work I feel like I’m truly rewarded for working hard,” he said. 

Antaya said that he learned how to put himself out there. 

“I think with the audition process, if you say ‘here I am,’ even if they don’t take you at first, at least they know your name. I went from not being in the show, to being offered a substitute position to being offered to be in a completely different show,” he said.

[For more information regarding this story please follow the instagram account @teensinthebay, which will direct you to a podcast run by Ellie Broscow and Maya Hollingswoth. In our first episode you can listen to a more in depth conversation with all three of the high schoolers featured in this article.]