Althoff Catholic High School - Crusader Yearbook (Belleville, IL)

Page 18 text:

It ' s taking and it ' s giving and it ' s 1 1 Maria Santos has been working at Baskin Robbins for a year. 2. Stephanie Pierce works at the YMCA as a swimming instructor life¬ guard and is paid $3.60 an hour. Previously she worked at the Westhaven Pool, and at the Belleville Pool. Working for a living 3. Michelle Clancy works for Dominos Pizza. She started by answering telephones and is now a pie maker. She makes $3.80 an hour. 5. Brad Zacharski, also in the pizza business, works at Ken ' s, where he makes $3.50 as a cook. 7. Lisa Mueller also has worked at Baskin Robbins, and now works at Dairy Queen 8. Melanie Schranz, a member of the Junior Board, has worked in the Fam¬ ous Junior Dept, for the last year at $3.62 an hour. 1 1. Jodi Edgar and Sue Dewein help out after school at the Magic Daycare center. They both receive $3.50 an hour.

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Many important local and state community events occurred in 1986-87. In order to improve the safety of her citizens, the state of Illinois toughened its DUI laws, a move effective in January. In June of ' 86, area residents joined the Hands Across America campaign to help the needy. By May of ' 87 over 12 million dollars raised from the campaign had been spent on projects to benefit the less fortunate. The city of Swansea celebrated its centennial in August with parades, a festival, century-old costumes, and many exciting events. The month of October brought events which left a marked impression on local communities. The Kroger Company closed its St. Louis area stores - including those in Metro East. This move left many local workers without jobs. The National Food Stores chain, along with numerous locally owned stores reopened, however, thus re-employing many of the men and women. One of the most tragic events of the year also happened in October. As a result of too much rain and a faulty flood gate on the riverfront, the city of East St. Louis flooded. Many people lost their homes and all of their belongings. Surround¬ ing community groups pitched in to help the suffering fam¬ ilies. The fall also brought the celebration of the first anniver¬ sary of the historic re-opening of St. Louis Union Station. The spring of ' 87 brought the Proud Partners group in Belle¬ ville out to help beautify the community. They cleaned up along the highways, and they also plan to reconstruct the banks of Richland Creek. Spring also was the time for the grand re-opening of Memorial Fountain in the square. Workers replaced the outer shell of the fountain and took care of other needed repairs. The city now boasts of an origi¬ nal water show that lasts over 40 minutes. Early in 1987 the March of Dimes also held the most successful walk-a-thon in Belleville ' s history. 1987 is also a year of planning in the area. Many new build¬ ings are scheduled for construction including a West-end mall which will have a new Venture store in the complex. The Lake Christine Center is planned for the East end, along with a new health spa. Also, the old Imbs Mill was destroyed so that the Richland Creed Office Park could be built. Many other com¬ mercial properties are scheduled for Swansea and Fairview Heights as well. Belleville and the surrounding communities will probably keep expanding until they merge with St. Louis and become St. Louis East, (o.k., maybe not!) But, I know we all want the area to be known as a nice place to live, a place where dreams become realities. M. Taphorn. 13

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16 is a very big year for a lot of reasons. For most, it means a car, usually borrowed, but nevertheless, the freedom to go where we please. Turning 16 is a milestone for yet another reason. For many of us, it means going out and getting a job for the first time in our lives. A job, of course, is the very biggest jump into adulthood we can take. It means a steady paycheck, weekly schedules, taxes, FICA, United Way, union dues, uniforms (nothing new, no doubt), bosses (also nothing new), and other assorted responsibilities. For the first time, we are gravely responsible for our actions, and our supervisors are not parents or teachers who tend to give us second chances. Instead, they are managers and crew leaders and employers who sometimes don ' t really care if you work there or not. They almost inevitably demand that their jobs certain¬ ly have higher priority than, say, school, and always higher priority than your social life. For the first time, someone else decides what you do with your free time, where you will be, and what you will be doing. Jobs vary, granted, but most work is menial, and takes little skill, although certain industries would invariably shut down if it weren ' t for the teenage work force. The fast food chains, in particular, are notorious for employing teens at below mini¬ mum wage and giving them tons of hours. It is not hardly unusual to find kids at McDonald ' s working 30-35 hours a week. As usual, people find many things to disagree with about this issue. Some educators and parents don ' t think it is a good idea to let students work because it takes up so much time. Kids need time to enjoy life, and exposing them too early to adult responsibilities will make them cynical. On the other side of the fence, many people agree that hold¬ ing a part-time job is a very worthwhile experience. You learn to budget time and money, in addition to learning how to get along with fellow employees as well as customers. Although receiving a weekly paychecks can persuade some students to go to work right out of high school, more often it is a motiva¬ tion, encouraging kids to go on to college or vocational train¬ ing because they ' ve seen people who have passed up that opportunity and remained at unskilled jobs all of their lives. Working is more of an eye-opener to the real world than just about anything else. It is quite a shock to be pampered all of your life, and then be surrounded by people whose only in¬ come is flipping burgers or standing at registers. The same paycheck that pays for your gas and car insurance feeds their kids and pays their rent. For us, a job is a diversion. For them, it is the center of their lives. Many years from now, when we are all settled, we ' ll look back and remember many different things about our job exper¬ iences in high school. We ' ll recall crabby bosses; calling every¬ one you work with trying to find someone to trade with you so you could get off to go to the Christmas Ball; blowing whole paychecks on something really stupid, like a new pair of shoes; bussing tables until two in the morning and sleeping through all of your classes the next day, but best of all, know¬ ing that you are finally independent. You are able to work and keep a job, and not have to depend on your parents financial¬ ly (well, not completely, anyway). You may hate it, but it is yours, and if you don ' t like it, quit! But if you ' re just having a bad day, call in sick. — Molly Polka