What I learned from shadowing five summer jobs in Philly

At many companies, summer is a sluggish time when people go on vacation, deadlines are fewer, and nonessential functions slow to a crawl.

But in some other workplaces, it’s a crucial season. Day camps, swimming pools, and youth-focused organizations buzz with activity. Some schools let students catch up or get ahead by cramming a year’s worth of instruction into a few weeks. Shops that sell cold treats brace for sporadic rushes and long lines.

The jobs in each of these workplaces are unique, but one common thread remains: with their time limited to a single season, they all must make the most of every summer day.

This summer, I shadowed five people with seasonal jobs — three students and two educators who will soon go back to the school-year routine. Here are a few things I learned about their jobs, their motivation for working, and the communities they serve.

Milan Howell, 17, is a second-year lifeguard in West Philly, and she plans to come back to the job in 2024 as well. When she first decided to pursue the job last year, it took her months to prepare.

She went to Friends Select Aquatics to build stamina and relearn how to time her breathing as she moved through the water. She made the trip to Lincoln Pool in Northeast Philadelphia for her swim test, and later for her CPR and rescue training. The trip to Lincoln was over an hour each way, she said.

A retest is required every two years, so she’s already preparing for that.

It turns out, hiring lifeguards is challenging not just because applicants must be willing to take all that training, but also because employee processing takes up to a month. After boasting this year that all of the city’s pools would be able to open, after years of fighting staffing shortages, the City of Philadelphia acknowledged in mid-July that some openings had been delayed because staff paperwork hadn’t yet cleared.

“While we can’t reverse the effects of a national lifeguard shortage in a single season, we are doing all we can to provide access to swimming pools and free swim lessons in every neighborhood of the city,” Maita Soukup, spokesperson for the city’s Department of Parks and Recreation, told The Inquirer in July.

But not every job requires such extensive training.

Madison McGill, 17, started working for Fishtown gelato shop Cloud Cups in July. She had experience in food service, so she already knew the basics, and it didn’t take her long to get up to speed. After less than a day of training, she was ready to fly solo.

“The gelato is pretty easy to scoop,” she said, “a lot softer” than ice cream.

Working as an educator is a full-time career, and summers off are often considered to be a perk of the job. But a summer gig is often the reality for teachers and others working in nine-month educational positions.

Sariah Cochran worked as a counselor at Camp Schuylkill in Roxborough, while adjunct professor Bradley Philbert continued similar work by teaching a five-week version of a course he’s taught before at University of the Arts.

Still, summer class looks a bit different. It’s accelerated and fully remote. Philbert said it can feel like a summer camp atmosphere, because the students bring a bit more of their nonschool life into the Zoom room. He embraces that aspect, creating flexibility in the curriculum so students can learn the material while enjoying the season. He did the same for himself, teaching from the beach one week, from a conference another week.

During the school year, Philbert teaches multiple classes at multiple institutions, but this summer he only taught one. The money — $3,600 for the three-credit class — is “a good holdover” for the summer, he said. “Otherwise I have to make sure that I bank a significant amount of my paycheck” during the school year.

For Cochran, the camp counselor, summer work days are physically exhausting. She walks at least four miles a day, between hikes with the 4- and 5-year-old children and their other activities like climbing, exploring, and playing games.

But mentally, it’s a welcome change of pace.

“Physically, I’m tired, but emotionally, I feel very rejuvenated,” Cochran said.

Cochran is a behavioral technician during the school year, working with students who have individualized education plans. Last summer, she did similar work while school wasn’t in session and ended up feeling “burnt out” even before the next year began.

So this year she sought out an opportunity to continue working with children, but in a fun-centered environment.

“I like being active. I like being outdoors a lot,” she said, “and that’s somehow my job.”

Philadelphia play captain Sheila De La Cruz, 18, spent five weeks of their summer leading playtime for children in Kensington. De La Cruz and the other play captains brought sports equipment, craft supplies, board games, Hula-Hoops, speakers, and more when they visited the Playstreets on their route each day.

The teens, who also get professional development instruction for their own benefit during paid work hours, are employed by community-based organization Fab Youth Philly. The basis for the play captains program is that providing engaging activities for children can help prevent summer slide — the learning loss that can happen when they’re out of school.

Children don’t have to pay anything to participate in the activities and games, and Fab Youth Philly makes sure each block knows when the play captains are coming so kids can be sure to get involved. De La Cruz, who was also a play captain in 2022, said all the neighborhood kids knew their name by the end of the summer last year.

Pools and rec centers also are a site of free fun, sometimes facilitated by teen employees and other summer workers.

Howell, the West Philly lifeguard, said giving swim lessons to neighborhood kids is her favorite part of the job. Philly residents can swim at city pools for free, and that includes getting swim lessons from the lifeguards.

Howell and the other guards also taught swimming to the children registered in summer day camp sites where pools were open. Philadelphia’s summer day camps are not free, but residents can apply for a fee waiver of either 50% or 100%.

I asked every summer worker I shadowed why they were doing the job and how much they got paid. While none of them said they would be happy to do the work for free, they all had additional reasons for doing their particular kind of work.

Cochran talked about her love for the outdoors, and Philbert said teaching a class during the summer will help him continue to get teaching opportunities.

De La Cruz said being a play captain is simply “fun,” even when it’s uncomfortably hot outside, and Howell noted that being a lifeguard helps her stay in shape.

For McGill, of Cloud Cups, scooping gelato is just one of her two summer jobs. “I work a lot,” she said. The rising high school senior makes $10 per hour at Cloud Cups and $11.50 per hour working for her mom’s business, Lokal Artisan Foods. Watching the founders of both businesses expand their companies has inspired her to become an entrepreneur, informing her plans to take business classes and enroll in aesthetician school in the coming years.

When her senior year starts, she plans to cut back on hours at both jobs. But she expressed no regrets on how she spent her months off from school.

“It’s fun to work here, honestly, and it’s a pretty easy job,” McGill said. “I don’t really care how much it pays.”