Most people get a job over the summer just for a source of money, but for some, a summer job is more than that. It is a way to do something that they are passionate about and a way to learn new things. This is exactly the case for senior Mady Latacha, who taught gymnastics over the summer.
Latacha works four hour shifts, where she teaches four separate classes, fifty minutes each. She does everything from setting up and teaching the lesson, to cleaning up and giving each kid a stamp at the end. Latacha uses her own background in gymnastics to teach her students and understands how they learn because she was once one of them.
“ I chose to coach gymnastics this summer because I am a gymnast myself at Omaha Gymnastics Academy. I have been involved in gymnastics since I was two, so it has always been a huge part of my life, and coaching comes naturally and easy for me,” Latacha said.
Latacha didn’t just choose a “regular” teenage summer job, she chose something that she loves to do and somewhere where can share her knowledge and skills with younger kids.
“My favorite part of my job is when I explain a skill or give a correction to a kid, and they do the skill well and get so excited about it,” Latacha said.
Latacha’s passion for gymnastics radiates as she teaches her students new skills. She shares her love of gymnastics with her students, which is what makes her such a great teacher.
“Their happiness over gymnastics makes me happy too, and it is extra sweet when the kids run up to give me hugs or high-fives,” Latacha said.
Another student who had a very unique job over the summer was senior Addi Wike, who had a real estate internship. Wike chose this job because she wanted to work on multiple social media platforms. She was able to put her online networking skills to use and also learn new things.
“I got to design an entire website by myself while additionally learning how to edit videos for Tiktok, Instagram, and Youtube,” Wike said.
Wike’s internship was full of new learning opportunities that she can use in her future career, making it more worthwhile than any regular teenage job such as fast food. She had busy days managing social media platforms, like Instagram.
“A day for me looked like going to the office, sitting in a meeting for about an hour, then I would look at our analytics on Instagram. After that, it would be lunchtime and then I would edit some videos, and make a caption for our new posts to make sure that they had all of the information that they needed,” Wike said.
Through her internship, Wike not only got to do what she enjoyed and learned new things, but also met several new people.
“My favorite part of my internship was being around everyone in the office because I made a lot of good connections,” Wike said.
Internships were a highly sought-after job during the summer and in addition to Wike, Prisha Agarwalla had her own internship at University of Omaha, Nebraska this summer. Agarwalla went through an extensive, multi-step process involving multiple essays and interviews to secure this esteemed internship.
In her UNO internship, Agarwalla worked with three teammates to build and program a Mars Rover Simulator. She worked tirelessly four to five days a week, coding and designing a 2D model and programming its movement.
“Our day began by brainstorming ideas for features to include in the application, guided by user needs. Afterward, we had a stand-up meeting to discuss our goals for the day. Following this, we worked independently for two hours, took a lunch break, then worked for an additional three hours before wrapping up,” Agawalla said.
While it was hard work, for Agarwalla, it was worth it because she was able to learn many new things and gain new important skills from her teammates and her experienced professor.
“My favorite part of the internship was collaborating with my three teammates, bonding with them, and learning from their experiences. I also enjoyed working closely with our professor, who has extensive experience with NASA, which allowed me to learn so much from her.” Agarwalla said.
It is a truly unique and rewarding experience to be able to work with and learn from such experienced professionals, especially as a high school student. Having the opportunity to do something as technologically advanced as building a Mars Rover Simulator is also a unique opportunity that allowed Agarwalla and her teammates to express their creative and technical sides.
“Building the Mars Rover Simulator was a challenging yet rewarding experience. We had full creative freedom, but we needed to meet specific technical requirements,” Agarwalla said.
It is easy to pick a summer job that is simple like a fast food place or a store, but it is more beneficial and worthwhile to choose something where you can learn, meet new people, and take steps toward your future
