Many student jobs revolve around fast-food chains, but senior Danielle Eggert is on “pointe” with hers.
Eggert works at South Hills Dance Academy as a teacher for multiple styles of dance. She said that seeing the kids burst through the doors with big smiles on their faces is the most rewarding thing.
“Half of the time it’s not me teaching them. It’s them teaching me,” Eggert said. “They’re always so positive, and really enjoy the little things. I’ve learned so much from teaching them.”
Eggert had been working as what was called a “student demonstrator” since seventh grade at her previous dance studio, Shade Sisters Dance Studio. She became an official instructor when South Hills offered her a job.
“Teaching is definitely a big commitment,” Eggert said. “It can be challenging, and it definitely tests your patience, but it’s all worth it.”
Eggert plans to teach as much as she can in the future.

Most teens wouldn’t consider crawling around on their hands and knees to be an ideal job, but it is for sophomore Joey Moeller, who works at the Owls Club bowling lanes in South Park as a pin boy.
The Owls Club features duckpin bowling, in which bowlers roll a lightweight ball that has no finger holes at pins that are shorter than regular bowling pins. Instead of an automatic pin-setting machine, the Owls Club has teens reset the pins, which keeps Moeller moving during the three-hour shifts.
He only works Thursdays, during the club’s league competition. After a ball has been rolled down the lane, he has 10 to 15 seconds to reset the pins.
In a normal shift working one lane, he makes $30. If he works two lanes, he makes $60. So despite all the work, Moeller likes the job.
“I like it because it’s easy money,” he said.
In the summer, Moeller plans to help refurbish the club.

Junior Logan Hails truly made the cut by starting his own hair salon out of his basement to get real-life experience in hairstyling.
Hails started cutting hair in ninth grade, after seeing his sister, Sydney, curl her hair. He wanted to see if he could do it better.
“The funny thing was that I was actually way worse at curling hair than she was,” he said.
So for sophomore year, Hails started the Steel Center cosmetology program. After his first year, Hails decided to continue practicing his hairstyling skills outside of school.
“I wanted to gain experience of entrepreneurship as well as create a source of money for myself,” he said.
Hails mainly operates through appointments, and he has about 10 customers a month. A basic haircut costs $10, but more complex hairstyles, like highlights or a hair dye, are more expensive, ranging from $70 to $90.

His job might not seem glamorous, but senior Mitch Holmes enjoys cleaning out movie semi-trailers.
Holmes has been working at Haddad’s in Pleasant Hills since he was 14 years old. He is now a lot attendant and helps prepare the company’s trucks, trailers, and generators that are used for movie productions.
“We’ve worked on trailers from almost every movie filmed in Pittsburgh and some TV shows filmed in New York, Atlanta, and Michigan,” Holmes said.
But he has other work plans as well. Through Primerica Financial Services since January, Holmes has been taking preparation classes to get his license so he can sell insurance. Holmes hopes to build up an insurance business to help pay for college.