Student job opportunities abound

The county has a program designed to employ hundreds of teenagers.
By ZACH STIPE
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
With school out and summer here, Mahoning Valley teenagers are trading in books for bucks.
Malls are a very popular place of employment, but the Valley offers a variety of jobs for teenagers.
Restaurants, ice cream parlors, department stores, landscaping and coffee shops all provide great opportunities for teen work.
Many teens have taken advantage of these opportunities to earn spending and saving money.
"They own [me]," Valerie Hegedus, 17, said of her job at Marc's. "I get a lot of hours in the summer."
Hegedus, a student at Fitch, said that she flip-flops around to different jobs, but mostly as a cashier at the store. July is busy because people do the most shopping for picnics, she added.
Handel's, an ice cream franchise that originated in Youngstown, provides many employment opportunities to teenagers.
Sarah Gigax, human resource director of Handel's Corporate Office, believes that Handel's is a good environment for teens to begin working.
"I started at Handel's when I was 15," Gigax said. "We are growing, but it's still a close-knit family."
Of the numerous Handel's located in the Mahoning Valley area, Gigax said that some of the locations in Youngstown were probably still hiring summer help.
CiCi's Pizza on Boardman-Poland Road employs many teens, as well.
"The majority of our staff is under the age of 18," assistant manager Sean Callaghan said. "It's a great job for kids to start out. We work around schedules."
Callaghan said that the buffet-style pizza franchise often hires summer help and is always taking applications.
Amy Sturrus of Boardman was given greater responsibility from Panera Bread this summer. The 17-year-old just became a manager at the coffee and bread bistro. While working around 30 hours a week this summer, her main duty is to "keep track of everything," she said.
Panera hires more teens in the summer because they have better availability, she added.
Many teens venture outdoors for summer work.
Bryan Setz of Boardman will spend the summer working for the Mahoning County engineer. Setz spends the majority of his job, which begins at 7 a.m. and ends at 4 p.m., outside, filling potholes, he said.
"It's the best job I've ever had," Setz said, after his first day of work.
Setz also has his own landscaping business on the side. Mowing lawns and weed-eating offer an easy way for teens to make money in the summer. Setz has been mowing lawns for five years.
Setz and his brother mow anywhere between 17 and 30 lawns a week.
Kelsy Mikesell is another teen who works two jobs in the summer. Besides working at Salvatore's Pizzeria, she also lifeguards at Niles' Waddell Swimming Pool.
"I work the kiddie pool," she said. "It's great. I love little kids."
Where to look
While many teens juggle two jobs in the summer, some struggle to even find work.
D.J. Stoner, 17, has yet to find work for the summer. Stoner, of Hubbard, has been trying to find a job working with auto parts. None of the places he applied to have called him back.
Genna Higbee and Jaocelyn Hudak recently graduated from Boardman High School. Neither girl has had a job. Higbee and Hudak attribute this to being very active in high school. Higbee ran track and danced, while Hudak played softball.
Both girls said they need money and will try to baby-sit if they can't find another job.
Trumbull County teenagers should put the county's Summer Youth Employment Program into their memory for next summer.
The program was scheduled to begin providing teens with work on June 12. Bill Turner, one-stop administrator of the program, said that the service usually employs 300-400 teens.
Turner recommends applying for the jobs, which include working at schools, parks and performing custodial duties, well before summer.
Next year, teens can contact the Trumbull County Jobs and Family Service department about the summer program in late March or early April.