Despite the prevalence of the coronavirus pandemic in the United States, several Diamond Bar High School students have decided to increase their productivity during this time by working. 

“I figured that not only will this be the best time to save money, but I’ll be able to help people out, even in the smallest ways,” sophomore Jordan Scherrer said via Instagram. 

Scherrer began working at Round Table Pizza in February, two months prior to quarantine. She explained that due to the already small staff size, the establishment hired more people to help those who were in need of work. 

“They [Round Table] started putting in safety measures such as wearing masks, even before it became mandatory,” she said. “We also started cleaning the restaurant more often than we did before, whether it be wiping down counters or full on sanitizing the entire inside [of the building].”

Although the business was looking to hire, they still took into consideration the health and well being of their higher-risk staff. 

“My manager asked me if I wanted to continue working as often as I did because they knew my grandma [lives with me] and they knew she’s at higher risk for COVID,” Sherrer said. 

Senior James Sander was hired at McDonald’s last June and works in the kitchen, separate from customers. 

“Customers tend to usually not be wearing masks or anything different than [what they would normally wear] when they come in,” he said via Instagram. 

This hasn’t posed a huge issue, however, as Sander said customers tend to stay for such a short period of time that staff don’t feel the need to dismiss them from the building. 

Due to quarantine, DBHS has established a virtual learning program, (see Distance Learning story on www.dbbbullseye.com), which allows students to complete assignments digitally and still stay connected with teachers and their peers. 

Although this initiative allows students to be more flexible with their time, it can still add on to employed students’ workloads. 

“I try to attend as many of my Zoom meetings as possible, but sometimes work collides with them, and there’s not much I can do about that,” senior Kevin Saiz said via Instagram. 

Saiz is employed at Target, where he has been working since November. 

“I decided to continue working for  a couple of reasons,” he said. “One, I love helping people so why not continue to do so, even if people think toilet paper is a bar of gold these days, [and] the other reason is that honestly it’s really good money.” 

Saiz mentioned he wanted to continue making a steady income to help pay for a car and better computer. 

“It’s nice to save up for all those things during times where we can’t really spend at all,” he said.