by Lindsey Kamppinen

When you think of student jobs you most likely think of retail or food industry, the basics. Not everyone at GHS flips patties or folds clothes.

The John Ball Zoo is the place to make great summer childhood memories. Aubrie Scott volunteers at the John Ball Zoo, she’s part of the teen program in the summer months. She volunteers with no payment at all.

“I absolutely love animals,” Scott said. “They’ve always been something I’m passionate about.”

Being passionate about what your volunteering for makes it easy for the hard work and early mornings. Aubrie gets there at 8:30 a.m. to either clean windows of all enclosures or work in the petting zoo.

“Cleaning the enclosures is fun because in the morning is when all the animals are most active, so it’s fun to see them all up close,” she said.

Having a highschool job can be not so fun, as many of us relate. It takes away from friends and other activities that we would much rather be doing.

Aubrie’s boyfriend Brady Olson said, “Her working in the summer is not ideal. The times I don’t get to see her because she volunteering is hard. Knowing she enjoys and is passionate about it makes me happy.”

Aubrie’s gaining so much work experience from volunteering. She is doing what she loves and doing something out of the ordinary.

“Seeing how much she loves it is inspiring to me because it doesn’t matter about the money as long as you love it and it makes you happy,” Olson said.

Aubrie volunteers for something that she really enjoys instead of getting paid for something she doesn’t enjoy. I asked junior Mason Russo if he would do the same.

“The job I have I don’t enjoy at all but I get paid,” Russo said. Some would rather get paid than volunteer. He added “since its something she really enjoys, it is inspiring and could potentially open doors in the future for something she really likes.

Mason used to volunteer at the west Michigan Humane Society, then stopped to start working and make money. He said “it gave me experience in the workforce, but I needed money.”