Where We Work

By: Reese Butler

At East Wake Academy, students are not only committed to their academics- some are also balancing responsibilities beyond the classroom. Many EWA high school students take on part-time jobs, learning valuable life skills that will help them both inside and outside of the school’s walls. Juggling multiple responsibilities isn’t always easy, but these students have found a way to balance their lives at work and school.

Auston Hopkins

Auston Hopkins works at Riverwood Veterinary Clinic in Clayton

Auston Hopkins, junior at East Wake Academy, works at Riverwood Veterinary Clinic in Clayton as a kennel assistant. Her job includes “cleaning the kennels and restocking the pets’ necessities, like their food and water.” She also gets to interact with the animals directly- “I hold them while the veterinarians trim their nails and draw their blood, and I clean up after surgeries,” Hopkins stated. Auston has wanted to be a veterinarian since she was a child, so it has been “really rewarding” to finally start moving towards that dream. “I’m only a kennel assistant right now, but this job has been a great opportunity for me to learn more about the veterinary field and how it works,” she continued.

Her favorite part of her job is being able to help animals in need. “It is very fulfilling to know you played a part in their recovery,” she added proudly. To create a balance between work and school, Auston only works on the weekends. “Over track-out, I’ll go into the office during the week, but I stay away from working weekdays while we’re in school,” she explained. The EWA junior’s job as a kennel assistant has given her lots of experience working with people, especially people who are anxious or worried about their pets. “I’ve found I’ve become a lot calmer in hectic situations, which I’ve been able to apply as a student. Hopefully, I can draw on some of that calmness during finals week,” Auston said, laughing.

Ayden Halley

Ayden Halley works at Autobell in Knightdale

Ayden Halley, senior at EWA, works at the Autobell Car Wash in Knightdale. He is responsible for cleaning the interior and exterior of vehicles. Ayden’s favorite part about his job is working with so many other EWA students. “There are so many EWA students who work at Autobell, so it makes work a lot more fun when I’m working with people I know,” Halley stated. To find a balance between work and school, Halley tries to “take advantage” of the time he is given at school to get his schoolwork done. “I have homework sometimes, but since I’m a senior, I have a lot of free time to get it done before I go to work,” he noted. By completing his schoolwork at school, Halley is able to make sure his school life doesn’t conflict with his work schedule. Through his job, the EWA senior developed skills he has applied to his life outside of work. “I have to interact with a lot of different types of people at work, which I think has helped me become a lot more social in general,” he added.

MacKenzie Alphin

MacKenzie Alphin, a junior at EWA, works at Nuevo Health Pharmacy in Knightdale as a Pharmacy Technician. “My job mostly consists of filling meds for group home patients, and tedious tasks like filling out delivery logs and printing out medicine labels,” Alphin explained. Her favorite thing about her job is the “chaos” of every day. No day at work is quite the same- “I’m always running around doing something new,” she stated. MacKenzie also enjoys the sense of importance she feels through her job, commenting, “I love the feeling of having something to do and making sure it gets done.” 

MacKenzie finds a work-school balance by only working on the weekends. “I only work on Saturdays, so I have plenty of time during the weekdays to focus on my schoolwork,” she clarified. The “chaos” of MacKenzie’s job has taught her valuable lessons she has been able to apply to her schoolwork. “I’ve learned how to prioritize what is most important. Learning how to adapt to such a chaotic environment and filter out what really needs to be done has helped me a lot in school,” she added. The pharmacist technician feels that because of this, she is able to “prioritize assignments better.”