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By: Sandra Chavez & Cinthia Lopez
Here at Alliance Neuwirth, the high school experience oftentimes includes being a broke student struggling to find money to buy chips or Gatorade.
While some of us are focused on doing the bare minimum to pass, there is one particular student here at Neuwirth who took up the challenge of school and work at the same time. His name is Eli Santiago Hernandez.
Eli first started working because of the need for money. He needed to cover personal expenses at home and school supplies. Though starting to work was hard at first, it become something they looked forward to as it began teaching them more responsibilities while giving them a chance to earn money. Money is what continues to be one of the most prominent motivators for Eli and frankly, they’re valid for that.
Although money is the main motivator for Eli, it isn’t the only benefit they reap at their job. Working has taught them numerous life skills he knows he’ll utilize in the future. Having to balance their school and work life has stressed them out a lot but he manages to push through. When it comes to some specific skills that he has learned, here is a short list:
Time management skills
Patience when it comes to dealing with rude customers
Learned how to budget with the money he earns through working at Little Caesars
Communication skills
Though working has proven to be a beneficial experience, it does not come without its challenges. Customer service is not an ideal area to work in and interacting with that many people, especially if they’re feeling entitled and rude, leads to exhaustion. This exhaustion then results in the inability to work on school assignments efficiently. Eli has been working for a while and has acknowledged the fact that he has asked for extensions on several assignments as work has left them too exhausted to do them on the due date. He barely has any time to rest seeing as once the dismissal bell rings, he immediately heads to work. After work, he still doesn't have any time to rest because he gets home late and still has to work on their homework with a 10:00 pm deadline staring him in the face. He has to decide between completing their homework or taking a break and so far, he has done an amazing job at deciding which to choose.
One of Eli’s co-workers and a fellow student here at Neuwirth praises him for the dedication and passion he has for his work. He never complains about work and rarely asks for a day off, even asking for more hours. They described Eli at work as “great with customers” and “eager to help when there is an issue.” He's the epitome of a Little Ceasars employee and more people should aspire to be like him.
Eli Santiago has managed to juggle two big aspects in this life and he’s done an amazing job at it. It has left him with skills he started using on the daily and though it is tiresome, he has deemed the experience “worth it.” Now that he is going off to college, he will be using the time management skills he's learned to help him through his assignments, especially as he knows he'll be continuing to work while in school.
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