By Helen McCormack, October 5, 2019 — Whenever I wanted to buy something that wasn’t a necessity I had to use my own money. I started working in high school at the train station in town. At the time, I would sit in a room with a window that customers could talk to you through. The company I worked for was Western Union, where I would receive money and send it out to the intended person. I was also responsible for telegrams which were either verbal or written. I would sometimes have to call up people across America and read them specific messages. I worked at the Summit Train Station for all of high school.
Right after graduation, I was hired at an Insurance Firm in downtown Summit as the secretary to the Vice President. This was considered a very good job especially being chosen immediately out of school and not even attending secretarial school. I then got married and stopped working since I stayed at home with my four children. I was a stay-at-home mom for about 10 years but had to start working again because of the divorce. I wanted the extra spending money for myself. I also wished for my children to participate in extracurricular activities such as athletic teams and having a pool to go to during the summer. To earn extra money, I acquired a job as a travel agent and later on worked answering phones for AT&T. Working these jobs were tedious as they were never my true passion, yet the paychecks and being able to have spending money made it all worth it. I am proud of what I was able to do with my high school education, but I do regret not attending college. Therefore, my work experience is something I pride myself on, since I was able to make the most out of my high school education, and especially as a single mother.