Fredericksburg High School, full of bright students and talented athletes, also consists of hard workers from all walks of life. 

One diligent worker is Claudia Memije, a senior at FHS. She has worked at Grapecreek Vineyards since June as a hostess. 

“I do enjoy my job because of the people who work with me. They make it fun and enjoyable,” Memije said. “I don’t stress too much since I only work weekends, which helps not to get in the way of schoolwork too much. I still get tired, of course, but it’s manageable.” 

As any person who has a job, managing school, work and personal life can be stressful; however, Memije is adamant in keeping her schedule stress-free, and she does so with her weekend workdays. 

Memije, though unsure about the future of her work career, hopes for the best. “I still don’t know for sure what I want to do in the future. Right now, I’m just focused on furthering my education into college. Whatever I happen to do in the future, I just hope I enjoy it.” 

Another hard working student at FHS is Jessalyn Castaneda. She works at the well-known Hondo’s, a restaurant located on Main Street. 

“I do a little bit of everything,” Castaneda said. “My main priority is bar back—I help the waiters and make sure everything is stocked and running smoothly. When I work in the mornings, I set up everything for the day.” 

Castaneda has worked at Hondo’s for a year. She enjoys her job; however, it still affects her everyday life.“Yes, there is a little bit of stress trying to balance life, work and school, but I feel I can handle it,” Castaneda said. 

Similar to most of the students at FHS, she also has a dream job. 

“I would like to go to college and work to be a certified preschool teacher. That has been my life-long dream,” Castaneda said. 

Just like these two hard-working young women, seniors Andres Rubio and Juan Herrera are currently employed and are diligent in their work life, along with their academic career. 

Rubio currently works at the Old German Bakery as a busser, where he has been employed for the past year. Regardless of long hours and the multitudes of tourists on the weekends, Rubio is efficient in both his work life and his studies. 

“The hours and work don’t affect me, really. I feel like I am able to keep up with my grades as well as my job,” Rubio said. 

Later on in life, Rubio hopes to work in the pipeline business. 

Herrera works for his father’s company, Herrera Roofing. He enjoys the work and feels relaxed and accomplished in both his studies and his work life, because of personal correlation. 

“At my job, I don’t feel much stress about school and extracurricular activities. I feel like I am balanced between the two, and I get things done, so to speak,” Herrera said. 

Herrera hopes to make it into law enforcement after high school. 

“I hope to start off as a jailer and then continue on, graduate from the police academy, and become a police officer,” Herrera said. 

Another hard-working student is Cole Immel. When he isn’t the starting quarterback on Friday Nights, Immel is working at a job of his own. 

“I work on a ranch towards Mason. I do a variety of different things depending on what’s needed at the moment like shredding or mowing, spraying thistles, or fixing fences,” Immel said. “I’ve been working there for a little over two years now.” 

The junior feels that his job gives him stress-free moments and a break from the chaotic reality of life.

“I enjoy my job a lot. It gives me a chance to be in nature and blow off steam. I don’t have to worry about other things when I’m out there,” Immel said. 

Immel, continuing on his junior year, hopes to be a part of the realty business, specifically dealing with rural land. 

“I hope to be a real estate agent in the future and sell ranches and larger pieces of property,” Immel said. 

Work isn’t always serious and draining. There are also some funny, questionable moments to the work day. Senior Samuel Maurer, who works at Los Cazadores in Stonewall, reflects on his own personal experience with this kind of moment. 

“My coworkers were loading up a trailer with large pallets of corn. The worker using the forklift tore the bags of corn and about 10 of the 40 bags of corn were spilled. Even though he made the mess, Blaine and I were the ones who had to clean it up. Not a good day at all.”