South students looking for ways to make money have found comfort in their place of work at Cape Albeon, a local nursing home. 

The job position high school students do in the nursing home is serving food to residents and taking care of them during meals. With four-hour shifts and good pay, the job can be pretty attractive to high school students who are balancing school work and sports. Students who work at Cape are able to have a flexible work schedule and can pick the days they want to work. There are two main buildings with assisted and independent living, each building has a dining room and kitchen. Over the past two years multiple South students have started to work at Cape. 

Natalie Polach, junior, applied to work at Cape when she was 15. Polach works in the independent living building.   

“I chose to work at Cape because at the time my brother worked there as well and I knew they would hire me at 15 years old. Cape was actually my first job,” she said. 

Polach said it’s good for students to work there because the shifts are only from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m., giving students time to do homework. Weekend shifts are often longer, from 9:30 a.m. to 7 p.m., but that still leaves teenagers with free weekend nights. 

Polach brings up pros and cons of working at Cape Albeon.

“The environment is definitely a plus; it’s very laid back and a good place to talk to your coworkers about your life outside of there. You also get to eat extras and other things while you’re there. Some cons would probably be that we’re very short-staffed at the moment which makes it more difficult to trade shifts if something comes up, and/or you may have to do more to compensate for the lack of people,” said Polach. 

Polach said another big part of working at Cape is growing connections with the residents and being able to have good communication skills with them. 

“You learn lots of different things from people’s names, where they like to sit, what their drink order is. You also sometimes get stories or people asking you questions about your life, and you learn they’re probably going to ask you your name over and over again. I have many interesting stories, some worse than others. One of my favorites is the day I got asked to explain the difference between green beans and baked beans. Didn’t exactly know how to respond to him. I also have a LOT of stories relating to my hair/nails, I have bright purple hair and had red hair for a long time and long nails–some comments are more positive than others,” said Polach.

Libby Morgan, junior, talked about her experience with Cape while working in the assisted living building.

“I chose Cape Albeon because I’ve always enjoyed working with older people and a few of my close friends had been working there for a while. The pros are the relationships with the residents I’ve made. Every shift I look forward to catching up with the residents and enjoy hearing their many stories,” said Morgan.

  Morgan said the key to working at Cape is having patience with residents. 

“I would recommend working at Cape but only if you know you’d enjoy working with older people. It’s a good job for high school students because it teaches you many valuable lessons and the residents love being able to talk to younger people all the time,” said Morgan. 

Nathan Barton, sophomore, has been working at Cape for four months in the assisted living building. 

“I decided to work at Cape because it is close to where I live and I found out about it from my neighbor. You get to work with a lot of people your age and from the area. Also, the shifts work really well with homework and other activities,” said Barton. 

Barton said the only con of working at Cape is sometimes being understaffed. 

“If you are looking for a fun job to do with your friends, you should consider Cape! Applications are online and we would love to have you work with us!” said Morgan.