It’s hot outside, and a little smoky. It’s been like that for most of the summer. We all complain about it, not being ideal. Amongst all of the complaining we do, we found three kids who haven’t done much complaining about being outside the past two months.
The Fairfield High School students have been off school since Memorial Day weekend, the junior class starting to make their mental plans for building world domination after over a decade of waiting. Leaders will form, both in the hallways and in the social circles, and the cycle will repeat for the 60th time as a senior class begins to assert itself in the pantheon of Fairfield history.
The aforementioned three students have been doing leadership in a different way. Rather than sitting poolside all day, Breah Gill is driving around a Gator, mass watering plants.
Instead of waiting for football practice to start, Brock Dunlap puts in six to eight hours of hard work and THEN goes to gridiron workouts.
Landon Miller easily could resort to procuring himself as an Instagram star, making stories about his travel baseball success coming off a huge junior baseball season. In lieu of spending all day perfecting the perfect shot in the outfield grass, he’s pulling weeds a few yards from his high school dugout.
OK, so kids get summer jobs all the time and earn some pocket change, maybe at the demand of mom and dad needing some relief. Taking a look into what these kids are doing, it’s far, far more than just earning a paycheck.
“These students jumped in and worked whatever job they were asked to do, without grumbling or complaining,” noted Fairfield transportation director Leigh Bell, who is part of the crew that oversees the summer work kids on a daily basis. “From watering plants, to building sheds, mowing, painting, scraping wax off of floors, cleaning dirty, stinking traps. Working in all types of weather.
“I’m so proud of the attitudes they brought here.”
Bell tapped into the random checklist of what the kids have been working on this summer. Working hand-in-hand in many cases with the Fairfield maintenance crew including Eric Smoker, Dakota Steele and Matt Morgan on campus maintenance, beautification and construction, there’s plenty of work to go around.
Is it glamorous? No. Is it ideal in many cases? Not really. Is it necessary in keeping the four campuses in good shape ahead of the coming school year?
Absolutely.
“It’s definitely a job I enjoy,” stated Gill in between bites of lunch after a mid-week barbecue on campus. “I get to be out in the sun, and I’m not doing the same thing all the time. Some days we paint, some days we weed eat, some days we landscape. I really enjoy it.”
All three of the summer helpers are varsity athletes, Breah also a star softball player in the spring to go with Dunlap’s football and Miller’s baseball exploits. The three already know you get out what you put in, and the leadership qualities they are refining are already starting to show.
“We shared many laughs and watched them work their tails off,” noted Bell. “All three of these students have other activities they are involved in. From traveling baseball, practicing football every evening, 4-H projects, family activities and many, many other activities. I have no doubt that these students will go out into the world and prosper.”
Gill tended to agree as far as what she’s getting out of the work put in, and it’s overall value.
“Time goes by really fast and it’s fun work, honestly,” Gill said. “I know that what I’m doing is making our schools look better, and we deserve that. It makes me feel good to know that I’m helping that process.”