For the past two years I didn’t get much of a summer vacation. Out of my three months of vacation I had about two or three weeks of actual vacation. My summer of sophomore year I wanted a new computer, and this summer I wanted a new guitar. To reach these goals I worked at a company called New Berlin Plastics.

New Berlin Plastics is a plastic injection molding company, making anything from paper towel dispensers in bathrooms to parts for Harley Davidson. Every morning I’d wake up at 5:30 AM in order to get to work at 7:00 with my brother. I worked a 40 hour week, 8 hours a day doing the same thing over and over again, remove the part from the mold, trim it, and box it. It wasn’t exactly hard work but it was boring and could be frustrating, especially parts with melted glass in them for extra strength. Working these parts was miserable because they would burn your fingers even when you wore gloves. Even though the building was air conditioned it was often hot and smelled like melting plastic.

I put myself through teenage hell for one reason; I was determined to make enough money to buy that new computer and that new guitar. I knew that the work was going to test my patience and when I would ask my self why I am doing this job I would tell myself it was because I had a goal to reach. It may not be the nicest job a high school kid could ask for, but with it I reached my objective. This is why I believe I would be a good addition to the community and University of Wisconsin Whitewater.