Lots of students at Akins need to work because they have many expenses, including gas money, various bills and saving for college. And many of these students, including me, have parents that can’t afford to just give them the money to pay for these necessary things.

Here at Akins, we currently have no official work-release program for students. In the past, these programs have allowed students to leave school early to make it to their job on time. To give some perspective, my employer has very hard-set scheduling blocks like 6 a.m. Given my availability, I’m in a block that allows me to get to work at 4 p.m. at the latest.

This is an obvious problem considering school gets out at 4:30 p.m. and my job is in Sunset Valley, which is a 20 minute drive. Fortunately, I take courses at Austin Community College during the school day and was given off-periods to go attend these classes as a result. These ACC off-periods and my one regular off-period are what allows me to make it to work on time. Even though I was lucky enough to find a loophole, it was an extremely tedious process to get those off-periods and is not an option for most students.

The closest program to work release on campus is called the “Career Prep Internship.” This practicum in particular has a certain fault that can be deemed inconvenient for those interested. Both 7th and 8th period are designated for “Career Prep;” however, no class periods with early release are available on A days. Therefore, students who work won’t be to go to work until after 4:30 on A days.

On the upside, however, students are able to work on individualized projects to prepare for their ideal career path in 7th period before going to work during 8th period.

Akins still offers off-periods to seniors if they have completed all of their other graduation requirements. However, in just three short years I’ve seen the application process go from pretty simple to very difficult if you don’t plan on attending college.

Some of the checklist requirements are pretty standard such as good grades, regular attendance and no disciplinary record. However, there are also requirements that are geared toward college preparation like passing the TSI exam or a student’s progress on applying for college.

Going to college is a common goal throughout the student body, but we do have to realize this is not everyone’s plan. There are many other options after high school like going to trade school, starting a business, joining a military branch, and being a member of the Peace Corps. Others become an apprentice/fellow, travel, work as artists, or simply work a job that meets their needs. These are all options people have considered and yet since they aren’t going to college they aren’t allowed off periods or work release.

Even if a student does want to attend college, it is a huge expense and you need a job to make money. Since off periods are so hard to come by, students are put into College Readiness and “fill in the blank” classes such as ceramics, professional communications, and many other electives. While these can have the potential to be beneficial, most students didn’t even sign up for those classes and feel like it’s a waste of time.

All things considered, I definitely believe that our administrators need to look into bringing back a work release option to students who have a plan other than college or simply need to work to provide for their family and themselves.