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Wheatland High Beat: Gas prices impact teens, too

If you are a resident in the state of California, you know that the gas prices are a bit ridiculous. Gas prices are unpredictable because no one knows what they're going to do next. The prices have gone from decent to uncontrollable. The thing about gas is that no one knows how, why or when the gas prices will rise. Gas is now up to around $4.29 per gallon.

Being a teenager in this economy is a really difficult situation. I'm not sure about how everybody's life is, but I, as many other teenagers, have to work for the things I get. Because the economy is in such a horrible state, many people are losing their jobs. There are also many less jobs because the employers cannot afford to pay the workers. Therefore, it is harder for a teenager like me to get a job to pay for my own gas.

Multiple teenagers in our area do have jobs, and I commend them on that, because going to school and having a job is very difficult at this age. I am a senior at Wheatland Union High School and last semester I had two jobs. I worked at Bishop's Pumpkin Farm and, as you know, I'm a freelance writer for the Appeal-Democrat. Keeping my good grades, working and having a social life were very difficult things for me to accomplish. But in the end I did it and it paid off.

Cars are like a rite of passage for teenagers; when you first get your license all you want to do is drive around and listen to music. All I ever wanted to do was go to the store for my parents and get groceries, or run errands, just so I could drive around for 10 minutes. You always wanted to compare your car to everyone else's, even if it was a "beaten up" or used car.

As gas prices continue to rise, people become increasingly stressed. A former Wheatland High student, Courtney Avilla, 18, said, "I go to Heald College and it's about 30 minutes away from where I live. ... So going back and forth three times a week becomes really expensive." The last thing someone should have to worry about when they go to school is whether or not they will have enough gas to get them home.

Many people are losing their jobs, so it becomes increasingly harder for them to afford their gas. If people who are out of high school can't afford their own gas, what makes you think people who are currently in high school can? Another former Wheatland high school student, Alex Balogi IV, 21, said, "I remember when I was in high school, the gas prices were supposed to go up to around $5 a gallon.

"I used to have to drive countless places for my baseball games and it became really stressful trying to figure out how I would end up paying for my gas," he said.

As you can see, parents aren't the only ones who worry about whether or not they will be able to pay for their gas. Although we may seem very carefree, teenagers do worry about things. The things we worry about now might not be relevant to what we worry about later on in life, but I think we can all agree that being a teenager in today's economy is very difficult.

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