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Time is running out for teens looking for summer jobs

7 years 10 months 2 weeks ago Wednesday, May 04 2016 May 4, 2016 May 04, 2016 6:44 PM May 04, 2016 in News
Source: WBRZ
By: Ambria Washington

BATON ROUGE - If you are teen looking for a summer job, time is running out.

As summer starts and kids get a break from the classrooms, Family and Youth Service Center Executive Director Roxson Welch is often concerned about the lack of positive activities during the summer-time.

But summer work is sometimes hard to find, especially when 15 to 18-year-olds are competeing directly with adults for searsonal work. 

"They got to have a place to go that's healthy and safe," Roxson Welch said.  "A place that kids feel like they're valued or they're not going to come back, so you give them a job you give them something to do."

From BREC camps to Blue Bayou, most summer jobs are quickly filling up. Even the Mayor's employment program only hired 100 kids after receiving 400 applicants for summer employment.

 "There are a lot more kids than there are opportunities," Welch said.

Welch says economic issues of today mean adults are taking jobs typically filled by high schoolers. 

"Young people who are on the streets in the summertime with nothing to do... quite often they find things to do that are not in their best interest," Welch said.

Eighteen-year-old Darion Parker faced those same challenges. Last year he got his GED after going through an education bootcamp program. 

"I want to say that's one of my biggest accomplishments," Parker said. "I never thought I would push myself through the challenge and get as far as I am today."

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