With summer right around the corner, North Kansas City students scramble to get jobs to pay for summer expenses.

Junior Jocelyn Davidson has just recently been hired at Granite City inside Zona Rosa.

“I was worried that I wasn’t going to get hired anywhere because I had been turning in apps for weeks and hadn’t gotten any call backs,” Davidson said.

Teens are currently one of the most prevalent unemployed age groups.

“Jobs like fast food joints and mall shops that were once typically jobs teenagers would take are now being swooped up by adults who have been laid off, thus, there are fewer teen jobs up for grabs,” NKC history teacher Corey McCune said.

Many students, like sophomore Haley Daniels, are part of this unfortunate statistic.

“I’ve been applying everywhere-even jobs I don’t really want, and still, nothing!” Daniels said.

Though the usual go-to summer jobs are not as available as they used to be, other Hornets improvise, like Kinzie Thompson who found work as a babysitter.

“I babysit for Coach Fuger, and although it’s not a real ‘job’ I still make good money,” Thompson said.

While some kids have trouble finding just one job, others have no problem piling on two or more jobs.

Senior Andrew Matheney occupies his summer break with two occupations.

“I work at Island Ice and the YMCA during the summer. It will be my main source for extra cash when I go away to college in the fall,” Matheney said.

For those students who have yet to get a job, here are a few tips to getting one:

1. Get out there and pick up applications, even to places that say they aren’t hiring.

2. Make sure that if you snag an interview, don’t take it for granted.

3. Always have a smile on and be polite to the employees – they could be your future co-workers!