Last updated on June 5, 2020
With the COVID-19 pandemic comes innumerable changes to the lifestyles of Northwest students. This of course includes academics, sports, mental health, and social life, but the virus is also affecting another part of life that the community hasn’t necessarily centered. Childtrends.org estimates that 20% of U.S high schoolers are employed. This means that according to the nation’s average, around eighty Northwest upper schoolers are working on top of school, and this is excluding private jobs such as babysitting and tutoring. As a student who has a job, I was curious to see how the work lives of Northwest students have been affected by Seattle’s lockdown.
I sent a survey out to all Northwest upper schoolers, asking only for students who have jobs to participate. What I found was this:
*Answers for “other” include teaching/tutoring, lifeguarding, and babysitting*
*Answers for “other” include working via zoom and being able to work but choosing not to *
As you can see, there is no single consensus. The majority of Northwest students with jobs are not currently working, yet they are still employed and are being kept in the loop with updates from bosses and clients. The most important question in the survey, I believe, was the last one. It’s easy to assume that since Northwest is an expensive private school, most students don’t rely on their jobs for financial support. As you can see, this isn’t necessarily the case. Coronavirus is affecting the financial standing of people from all backgrounds and communities, and this includes Northwest students and their families. If you are working, please take all necessary precautions to stay safe and healthy, and we thank you for working through these difficult times. If you are looking for financial assistance because of how COVID-19 is affecting your job, visit https://coronavirus.wa.gov/information-for/workers.
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