Every year children look towards summer with its enticing call of traveling, tanning and doing anything you want because you are free. For the first 14 years of life, summer is filled with endless possibilities. That all changes when you turn 15. Suddenly Mommy and Daddy don’t want to fund your trips to Starbucks anymore. They only tell you the worst 4 words in the English language: Get a job, idiot. From then on, summer is never the same.

However, just because you have to get a job doesn’t mean that summer is ruined. In fact, it can actually make your summer better. A summer job is a great way to spend your time learning some good lessons, making new friends, and of course gettin that bag.

Now, we’ll take a look at some of the most popular summer jobs that Magnet students seem to find. A timeless classic, as well as our own job, the summer lifeguard position has traditionally been filled with high school and college students. Through the depiction of lifeguards throughout the years as lazy teenagers with sunscreen lathered noses, it can be easy to think that lifeguarding is a relaxing job. However, people tend to forget that lifeguards are responsible for the survival of dozens of little kids. In addition, they often times find themselves handling other duties around the pool. Walton Moseley, an experienced lifeguard, knows the business well, saying that although the job can be boring at times, the high pay and gratification of guarding lives is well worth it.

Let’s discuss one of the least thought of, yet somehow the best summer job. Yes, obviously we are talking about setting up beach chairs and umbrellas. For those of you who have the privilege of vacationing out on Kiawah Island you have more than likely seen some strapping young men setting up endless rows of blue chairs and umbrellas. While during the day they may appear to be lazy beach bums who simply hangout on the beach all day, in reality they are an elite force of beach warriors who battle the elements and snooty tourists all summer long. The perks of this job include spending the majority of the summer on the beach as well as good tip money from your adoring customers. Trap Puckette is going on his fourth year with this job and he says “it is fun because I get to sit on the beach all day but it gets tiring by the end of the summer.”

One of the most unique jobs that we have encountered belongs to Magnet’s own Golden Eagle prospect Ethan Fewell. Mr. Baseball as his friends call him is taking over the youth baseball team this summer. For his job he is coaching an 8 year old baseball team. Over the summer he will train those little rascals into a lethal baseball machine. Ethan says that his favorite part about his job is going to be “winning.” Mr. Baseball also went on to say “I will feel bad for anyone on that team who makes a mistake that costs me a game.” All of the Talon Staff is rooting for Ethan and his minions as they compete in 6 different tournaments this summer. Good luck kids and don’t make Coach Baseball angry.