Programs · Teens
The only program where kids get paid.
A paid apprenticeship for 8th and 9th graders: eight hours a week, a real job, a real supervisor, and $17.50 an hour.
- Grades
- 8–9
- Hours
- 8/week
- Pay
- $17.50/hr
- Slots
- 18 per year
Teen leadership started because our oldest kids kept aging out at 14 with nothing to do and nowhere to be. Now they stay, as staff. Eight hours a week, $17.50 an hour, a named supervisor, and a real job that includes a timesheet and a performance conversation, because pretending work is not work is not a kindness.
What the job is
- Assistant teaching — help run a block for younger kids, set up materials, coach a kid through a step.
- Bench duty — staff the repair bench or the salon desk during open studio.
- Building upkeep — tool counts, inventory, cleanup, the unglamorous stuff that is 30% of any real job.
- One project of their own — a repair guide, a workshop they design and teach, or a piece of the almanac.
How they get in
Application, a group interview with two staff and two current teens, and a paid trial shift. No GPA requirement, no reference from a teacher required, and no preference for kids who have been with us the longest — though about two-thirds of the cohort are program alumni, because that is who applies.
What they get
| Thing | Detail |
|---|---|
| Pay | $17.50/hr, every two weeks, direct deposit or a pay card |
| Training | 24 hours paid onboarding: safety, ratios, mandated reporting, de-escalation, and how to give a kid a correction without humiliating them |
| Mentorship | A named supervisor, a monthly one-on-one, and a written end-of-year review they can use for the next job |
| Reference | A real one, from a supervisor who has watched them work |
| Path | Priority consideration for our part-time program assistant roles at 16 |
The first time a kid tells you to stop and you stop, and nothing bad happens, your whole idea of what an adult is changes. That is the actual curriculum.
Apply to lead
Applications open in April for the following school year. Eighteen slots, paid, real work.