Her love of talking to people combined with her immense boredom during the COVID pandemic led Tara Paclik, an AP Calc and college algebra teacher at LHS, to start a part time job driving Lyft. The flexible hours allow her to easily manage it with her teaching responsibilities. “…my hours with Lyft are very flexible, so if I’m busy with schoolwork I don’t have to drive Lyft, but if I don’t have any schoolwork then I can drive Lyft,” said Paclik.
After spending nearly seven hours talking and teaching high school students, Paclik embraces conversing with the different people she drives. “I love talking to people, so it’s so fun. And if you don’t like somebody you get rid of them in like 10 minutes,” said Paclik.
One of her favorite parts of driving Lyft is being surprised by new encounters, especially reconnecting with former students. “ It’s happened quite a bit, so that’s pretty exciting. Some students I had 10 years ago and so that’s very cool,” said Paclik.
Starting work at 4 a.m. to load concrete onto trucks may not appear to be an exciting part-time job. However, for Mesa Jacobson, a science teacher at LHS, this is how she spends her days off of school, excluding weekends. With vast differences to teaching, which remains her priority, Jacobson still finds enjoyment in her part-time profession.
“It’s a totally different environment with totally different people, yet it’s still a job where I get to do a lot of talking and interacting with others. My dogs also get to come to work with me every day. And I try to get all of my school stuff done, like school is the priority over my other job for grading and planning,” said Jacobson.
While the profession may appear monotonous, Jacobson and her coworkers manage to make the job fun, particularly through hilarious mistakes. “An employee of mine spilt a concrete color stain powder on himself and it was orange and he looked like an oompa loompa,” said Jacobson.
Sitting in a classroom all day transforms into reconnecting with nature. For Kyle Dietz, a science teacher at LHS, this is his reality. Working with trees at Prairiescapes, a tree and landscaping service company, occupies Dietz’s time outside of school. With a multitude of differences from teaching, Dietz enjoys the people he works with and being outdoors the most. “I get to work outdoors and I get to work with my best friends, my good friends own the company,” said Dietz.
While his job has many benefits, it also has some drawbacks, especially the physical demand of the labor. “[It is] physically demanding, that’s the hardest part. It’s physical labor; I mean it’s risky work but it doesn’t carry the mental load that teaching does,” said Dietz.
Despite the differences in his two occupations, Dietz has found several ways to incorporate his work at Prairiescapes with his teaching career. “I get to apply some of the content that I teach. In terms of plant health that’s applicable. In terms of trying to manage the emerald dashboard or invasive species that’s applicable to teaching environmental science. And I get to work with soil and get to apply some of what I teach to that job,” said Dietz.
From counseling students at LHS to aiding adult psychiatric patients as an Avera behavioral health tech, Matt Meyers incorporates caring for others in both of his professions. While managing both his job at LHS and Avera can be difficult, Meyers works on a per-diem status, making it more manageable during the school year. “Luckily, I am able to create my own schedule there. I am pre-diem status, so basically I have for every six week schedule that they have I have to work so many hours,” said Meyers.
Becoming a behavioral health tech had never occurred to Meyers prior to five years ago. He submitted his application on a whim based on former fellow faculty member, Jason McDonald’s recommendation. Now he is incredibly grateful for the opportunity, finding the work incredibly rewarding, especially when he sees improvements in patients. “…that’s probably the part that I like the best, is just talking with the patients, getting to know them, getting to know their histories, you know what makes them tick, why they’re there and being able to help,” said Meyers.
Ultimately, Meyers has found ways to incorporate each job with one another, helping aid his students and patients. “I quite often will use my knowledge from behavioral health with my students here, and I’ll use some examples here with my patients from behavioral health,” said Meyers.
While most teachers try to escape working with youth in their part-time jobs, Meghan Anderson-Finch, a LHS English teacher, embraces it through being a nanny for babies during the year. The difficulties of balancing nannying with teaching can be difficult on days where she works both jobs; however, she enjoys working with a different age group, where the needs are simpler. “I like that it’s a change from working with teenagers.
Teenagers are fine and good, but sometimes there’s emotional drama. When you are dealing with two and under, it is just that they need basic needs: they need to eat, they need their diaper changed, they need a cuddle. It’s just a little more basic and I enjoy having that balance,” said Anderson-Finch.
As a long-time babysitter, she found it natural to begin nannying again to make extra income. “I’ve been babysitting since I was 13, so almost 34 years I’ve been babysitting. I’m the oldest of four girls so I’ve had a lot of experience with kids. I needed to find a way to earn some extra money, and I didn’t want to apply to work somewhere or be trained to work somewhere and it just seemed like a natural fit,” said Anderson-Finch.
