Teens spend their summer vacations working, volunteering and getting valuable job and life experiences

The lazy days of summer are anything but “lazy” for many area teens. These kids choose to spend a portion of their vacations working, interning or volunteering in Dana Point. There are many opportunities for kids to pick up volunteer hours, explore a trade and even earn some money while building real world job skills that will be helpful in their future careers.

To find out what their motivation to forego some of the daily trips to the beach and long hours spent on the couch playing video games or watching TV of their peers, we ventured out into the community to meet a few of these busy teens at their summertime gigs.

Eighteen-year-old Daniel Johnson has worked at Killer Dana Surf Shop since his freshman year in high school. A recent graduate of Dana Hills High, Johnson says he has had a great experience working in the surf industry and would like to have a career in surf apparel after college. As a surfer, he says he loves his job because it is a perfect fit for him and really “helps him out.” “I like the laid-back vibe of a surf shop and it’s fun to work at something that I take interest in,” said Johnson. “It’s easy to relate to since surfing is something that I do every day and I really enjoy helping people, whether in the store or on the beach teaching them to surf.”

Johnson will be starting at Saddleback College in the fall and intends to transfer to Cal State Long Beach to study International Business. After that, he has his heart set on attending Otis College of Art and Design in LA to study apparel design and merchandising.

Across town at Jack’s Surfboards we met Baleigh Kafler a sixteen-year-old who, like Johnson, says her job is the best of both worlds—she is a surfer/paddler and is interested in studying business in college. “I’ve thought about majoring in retail and business in college, but I’m still not sure,” she said. “I’d like to broaden my horizons a bit first.”

Blue Lantern Inn Manager Lin McMahon introduced us to Conner Reischl (18), a recent Dana Hills graduate who has been working at the hotel throughout his high school years. “Conner is actually third generation here at the Blue Lantern Inn. Conner’s grandfather worked here for many years as Head of Maintenance and his mother—now a teacher at Dana Hills—worked for us as our chef. When Conner came along we hired him. He now works as our House Person—a porter positon, responsible for tasks such as deliveries, turn downs and handling luggage,” said McMahon. “I’ve been here for 15 years and I love employing teens during the summer. Both of my own children worked here during their high school years. I think the summer job is important to the growth of all children.”

Reischl agreed with McMahon saying that his job has definitely helped him grow socially. He said that he also likes his job for the obvious reasons, money included, but that he originally wanted to get experience dealing with the public to become more outgoing. “Before I started working here, I was really shy around people and I felt like if I worked in a job that required me to interact with and help people it would really help me out.” Speaking with Reischl now, it is apparent that the job has been very good for him in that respect.

Reischl will be starting at Saddleback in the fall but says he intends to study something altogether different in college—English—but says that a career in the hospitality industry is not totally out of the question. He plans on continuing to work at the Blue Lantern during his two years at Saddleback and beyond, depending on where he ends up transferring to complete his college education.

“It makes me feel like I am doing something valuable with my summers, not just being lazy. When my grandpa worked here I used to hang out with him a lot, so I feel really at home here,” said Reischl. “This job has given me the chance to meet some really interesting people and get some great experience.”

Younger teens are also getting in on the action through volunteer opportunities in the city. Brooke Dorsey, a fifteen year-old entering her sophomore at Dana Hills High School this year, is one of nearly 70 teens who decided to spend the summer benefitting the children of the community through volunteer work at the Dana Point Library. Dorsey works under the supervision of Children’s Librarian Carolyn Hopkins as an assistant in the library’s kids’ summer reading program. Dorsey has been volunteering at the library since she was in sixth grade.

This summer Dorsey works two days a week in the library assisting the younger children with their reading logs and helping them pick out prizes for the hours they complete. “I started working here because I love working with kids,” she said, “and giving back to the community.”

Volunteering at the library has become somewhat of a Dorsey family tradition—Brooke followed in the footsteps of her older sister and works along side her two younger sisters. In addition to her work in the library, Brooke also volunteers at the Shea Therapeutic Riding Center in San Juan Capistrano helping disabled children with horseback riding. Dedicated and compassionate, Brooke plans on continuing her volunteer work in both facilities and hopes to one day pursue a career as a marine biologist or a special education teacher.

Many of the area’s youth also find jobs and internships through their high school ROP programs and career counselors. Capistrano-Laguna Beach Regional Occupation Program Career Guidance Manager Anne Moore told us of the many opportunities for students in the two school districts her department serves—Capistrano Unified School District and Laguna Beach High School District—and that an average of 500 work permits are applied for through the program each summer.

“During the school year we operate Career Centers at each of the high school campuses in our service area,” said Moore. “Toward the end of each school year we have a job board where students can find postings regarding available summer jobs and internships. We also help place kids through the ROP programs. Summer programs include class hours and/or internships in fields such as nursing, child care and automotive mechanics. Kids who participate in these summer programs receive high school credit, and some even offer paid positions.”

Beyond the obvious perks some summer jobs provide—money, fun, volunteer hours and resume-building experiences—these early forays into the working world help kids to discover what they might like to study in college or for a living as adults. For some, the experience provides another type of benefit—discovering what they definitely do not want to do in their future careers. Whatever the outcome, both revelations share equal value for our young people.

—Christina Scannapiego, Chris Bashaw and Rachel Namson contributed to this article.