Lincoln High School - Links Yearbook (Lincoln, NE)

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A new 280ZX, that exquisite silk dress, or a complex Hi-Fi stereo system—these are all items many high school students dream of owning. However, what we want and things we can afford are two entirely different matters. During the past few years, there has been a steady increase in the number of high school students holding jobs. According to a poll taken by the LINKS staff this year, more than 80 percent of the students surveyed had a job. Most students worked in fast food restaurants, either as a waitress, waiter, busboy, or cook. The large percentage of working students seems to indicate their need for money. Society places a great emphasis on materialistic values. Generally, our desire to outdo our neighbors requires more spending money. Therefore, the need for high school students to work is much greater. The most common item that students spend their money on is food. This seems to correspond to the fact that the majority of students work in restaurants. Two other popular spending choices are clothing and entertainment It does seem to be true that people are much more clothes conscious than ever before. Students are turning more to nice dress pants and nice shirts, rather than old worn out jeans and t-shirts. And of course, students, as well as everyone, are spending more money on gasoline and their cars. Peer pressure influences many young people to spend their money. The old saying monkey see, monkey do enters into this concept. Often times, students must buy a product simply because their friends or everyone else has it. Advertisers also seem to have a way of encou- raging students to buy unnecessary items. The student is often led to believe that a certain product will make him or her more popular or better liked by others. There also has been a large number of students opening checking and savings accounts. Many are saving up for college or a new car. Of the students surveyed, the majority said they saved between 10-20 percent of their earning wages. The response from students was about evenly divided when asked if they felt they must give up some luxuries because of today's inflation. Some of these luxury items included: clothes, shoes, cars, candy and records. Taking into consideration all of the pressures relating to materialistic values, it is inevitable that the student must turn to the job market. However, it is still up to the individ- ual to decide what is important when selecting which products to buy. Money crunch Job well done-6

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Success Success to each person takes on a dif- ferent and special meaning. The degree to which someone succeeds cannot possi- bly be measured. Success lies within each individual. Success in high school could mean making the all school play or it could be as simple as making it to your first period class on time. Each day we experience some type of achievement, no matter how trivial. We all set certain goals for ourselves during our life. Whether or not we achieve these goals, depends on the amount of effort we put forth. Success does not come free, we must have the desire and determination in order to achieve. Even if we do not accomplish our intended goal, the final product is not necessarily failure. Set backs, which occur on the way to success, should be taken at face value and used as encouragement to pull forward. A quote by Booker T. Washington may explain this idea. He said, I have learned that success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome while trying to succeed. Probably the ultimate achievement high school students look forward to. is the diploma each receives on graduation night. In the eyes of society, this is the first step on the ladder leading to success. Col- lege follows and finally a stable job with a substantial amount of income. Society often relates success with the ability to acquire a large amount of material Happiness is peihaps Ihe most satisfying type of success one can obtain. possessions. A graduate of Lincoln High. Ted Gun- derson. FBI special agent in Los Angeles, feels we must always strive for perfection. He said. Success takes dedication, edu- cation and most importantly a good solid background. He said we should never pass up an opportunity to learn. State Senator Shirley Marsh, another LHS graduate, feels success depends upon the ”3 E's. These are education, enthusiasm and endurance. She said, Without endurance we often stop short of our goal. No matter what goals we set in life or how many of them we achieve, we must always have confidence. The faith we have in ourselves could be the clinching factor in our destiny to success. Job well done5

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Working at a fast food restaurant, such as McDonalds, is one of the jobs frequently held by high school students. The need to open checking and savings accounts increases as with the number of students holding jobs and earnings larger amounts of money increases. Job well done-7