Houghton Lake High School - Bobcat Yearbook (Houghton Lake, MI)

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GROCERY STORES provided 23 students with part-time jobs. Making $3.35 an hour, senior Troy Winchel and junior Steve Brimmer load groceries during work hours at Carters IGA. Students working at Carters worked a 40 hour week during summer and a 20 hour week during school. Photo by Carrie Mieske. BILLS! BILLS! BILLS! With insurance on cars ranging from $116 to $500 every six months, students were forced to work after school even though it interfered with school activities and summer fun. Clothes, loans and even traffic tickets played a key role in determining the economic status of the working student. Photo by Karen Cronin. SCLlWL 6Ll ?PPii k: With only a 24 hour day, students must go to school, do their homework, have time for practices plus a social life and still try to get nine hours of sleep each night. Add a job to that list and you’ve got scheduling problems. Working students spent up to six hours a day after school and up to nine hours a day on the weekends on the job. Like most thing, this had advantages and disadvantages. It gets in the way of doing things with my friends, but I’m the one who has more money,” said junior Steve Brimmer who worked at Carters IGA as a carry-out boy. Sixty-four percent of the student body worked and that figure doesn’t include such jobs as babysitting and shoveling roofs or walkways. “Jeff and I can make about $70 each on a Saturday afternoon,” junior Gary Bourdow said. Gary, along with junior Jeff Thompson, made an average of $40 for each roof he shoveled during the winter months. Employers had to pay minimum WHAT DO YOU THINK tn YOU’RE DOING? ARE YOU AT WORK? A survey of 250 students indicated that 166, or 66 percent, held jobs. When did they work? After school 3% Weekends 25% Both 72% The average student spent $23.39 each week. What was most of the money spent on? Guys: 34% spent most on cars Girls: 76% spent most on clothes wage which stood at $3.35 an hour, unless the employee was less than 16 years of age. Because of this, students made anywhere from $2.50 an hour up to $5.00 an hour With the opening of the Big Wheel store, the only discount chain in the area, students had yet another place to spend their hard-earned money. Other than places in town, the popular places to shop required a drive of two hours or more to Saginaw’s Fashion Square Mall, Detroit area malls or Friers. Some students found the shopping solution in mail order catalogs. With the ever-growing inflation, students were forced to give up some of their social life to make extra money for their expenditures. Although they complained, they kept right on working so they could keep right on spending. Mike Aho fobs and Where the Money Goes

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It gets in the way of doing things with my friends, but I’m the one who has more money YOU DON’T HAVE TO LEAVE school to go shopping. Senior Kelin Muma fits some Houghton Lake apparel from the Bobcat Den on classmate Tina Bailey. Run by Mrs. Thompson's retailing class, the den sold school- oriented sportswear along with candy, chips and school supplies. Photo by Carrie Mieske. STUDENTS PAID A LOT to McDonald’s for fast food, since it was the only fast food restaurant within 25 miles. But McDonald’s also employed 19 students, including junior Margaret Frappier who practices running the drive-thru with junior Randi Chidester. Photo by Karen Cronin. PUMPING GAS into his ’72 Chevelle, junior Brent Barkway hurries to get to work on time after school. Brent has worked at the Limberlost as a cook since August. Making $3.50 an hour helped him pay off the loan on his car and buy gas to run it which cost $1.12 a gallon. Photo by Karen Cronin. 12 STUDENT LIFE

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 « t 0 McDONALDS, packed after the first day of school, provided the most popular local hot spot for students. After classes on September 3. freshman Nanette Terschluse discusses her first day as a high schooler with junior Nicole Gross. Photo by Carrie Mieske. The worst day is Monday because you are so worn out from the weekend and you have to get up a so early 0 14 STUDENT LIFE