Insights: Sports, Work & School

Occasionally Youth Be Heard interviews youth. It can be tough to write about yourself, so interviews help get those inspirational thoughts out of your head and into the world. Today, we present Colton, age 20.

High School

YBH: What was your favorite grade in school and why?

Colton: Junior year in high school. Most people say it’s the worst. The reason it’s my favorite is that I played sports… football and wrestling my freshman and sophomore year. I quit those so I had the freedom to be me my junior year. It was nice not having to be in the gym all the time. The sports were year-round. We had summer practice at least every other day for football. Once football ended, it was wrestling.  In high school, especially in my town, they care about winning a lot and I didn’t get along with the coaches for various reasons. So junior year I basically did nothing but get my grades up. They weren’t bad but I worked on them. I joined key club my senior year and sign language club.

YBH: That had to feel like a big deal to quit because you put so much into it.

Colton: Yeah, the coaches weren’t happy but I was so miserable I didn’t care.

Mentally, I think it helped. I felt a lot better. I lost some self-discipline. I also gained some weight because I wasn’t practicing two hours a day. I lost all the weight though. It’s also nice not being yelled at every day.

YBH: Do you think it had an impact on your self-esteem?

Colton: For sure. If a coach knocks you down but then builds you back up… I like that. It can be motivating. But a lot of the times, the coaches had the mentality of “I’m going to kick you down but not bring you back up.” Football and wrestling are both aggressive sports, so I think coaches are instigating anger in a “toxic masculinity” sort of way, like you’re weak or not manly enough if you can’t do this. And you can’t have emotion, except anger, but it has to be on the field… it can’t be anywhere else.

YBH: Was it scary to quit?

Colton: I was terrified. Our coach actually called me, but I ignored it because I knew I would get an ear-full. High school sports have practice almost 4 hours per day during the school year. I think that’s why school gets out at 1:50. I didn’t want to have to get out at 6 pm and still have to do homework.

I also didn’t see myself going anywhere with it… I wasn’t going to go to college and play and I didn’t really want to go to college to play a sport. I’m going to college, but all the amount of work that goes into practice and school… I wasn’t about that and I’d rather enjoy college a bit more. And it gives me the freedom to work after school and make some money. It also gives me time to spend with friends and family.

Work: summer jobs

YBH: What have you done for summer jobs?

Colton: My first job was actually at Cracker Barrel, but that was only a month.

Working at a pizza place was my second job. It’s not bad. I work there year-round. I’m there 2-4 times per week. At first getting a job can be scary, meeting the manager and working out schedules. Thankfully I’ve had to do that a lot with coaches. During college, with classes, it’s so busy. There may be one day of the week where I have some time to myself if I don’t have homework. Last week I had to go straight to work after class- I didn’t have time for homework.

My personal perspective on jobs for youth is that I think if you’re in high school, you shouldn’t have a job so you can focus on school. Just enjoy school.

I couldn’t really work in the summer during high school because of sports. Some do it all, but I’m not sure how that is working for them. I’m the kind of person who has to study for hours for a test to do well, so I have to plan accordingly. In college, they say you have more free time, but that time is spent doing homework.

YBH: What’s it like to deliver pizza? What do you notice about people when you walk up to their house?

Colton: I deliver to mostly white people, most of the time people are pretty nice. I have tattoos, long hair, and ear piercings and I’m tall, which can be intimidating. Sometimes people can be scared and they hand the money through a small crack in the door and I have to hand them their pizza through the crack which is kind of weird. I’ve never had someone get up in my face and get angry at me. There are some interesting people. Having a background in wrestling and football, I know how to take care of myself.

College

YBH: Choosing a college and all the stuff around it. What are some of the things you observed? What should change?

Colton: When it comes to choosing a school, I already knew where I wanted to go because my family already knew “this is the amount of money we have and this is where we can afford”. If I had one piece of advice about choosing schools, I would say go to a community college first. I know people like the idea of being independent and partying, but is partying worth the $40,000 you will be in debt? I think the smart decision is to go to a community college first which is significantly cheaper. Then you still graduate from a four-year college at the end. I think you just have to find the school that meets your interest. So whatever you’re really going for, find the one that’s accredited in your field and go for it. And it’s going to be stressful, learning is stressful.

There’s no point in spending that money to get your general education courses at a university. Whereas community college is $2,000 per semester.

YBH: How have you felt about the education at a community college?

Colton: I think high school over prepared me for college, they said in college you would have to do xyz but it’s not that way. There is more homework in college, I spend more hours doing homework. In high school it was more about a worksheet taking 30 minutes and in college, it’s “write a 4-5 page paper in two days. In college, you choose your own topics so it takes time to come up with ideas.

Also, if you can stay with your parents and want to, do it from a money aspect. In the long run, you’ll be saving yourself and your parents so much money. But if you want to experience leaving and you’ve been looking forward to it, go for it. All my friends and church are here so I’d rather just stay.

YBH: Thanks Colton!

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