Youths can apply for many part-time jobs

Young people at the Aquatics Center enjoy the pools.
Photo courtesy City of Morgan Hill

By Marty Cheek

Summertime is recreation time. And with Californians starting to get a handle on the COVID-19 pandemic, the city of Morgan Hill is opening a wide array of its warm weather activities and programs through the months of June, July and August.

“We are absolutely planning for the summer and moving ahead.  We have lots of stuff planned,” said Chris Ghione, public services director with the city of Morgan Hill. “There are tons of programs available for the summer.”

Online recreation for summer recreation activities opened April 15 at www.mhreconline.com. To view the recreation activity guide and the course offerings, visit www.morganhill.ca.gov/recguide.

Summer programs include swimming lessons, preschool activities, sports programs, dance classes and summer camps. The city is also hoping lessened COVID-19 conditions will allow the annual Youth Leadership Morgan Hill program to be held in person this summer instead of through streaming video like last year.

The Aquatics Center and the Centennial Recreation Center will both be open for use during the summer months.

The CRC on Monday, April 19, opened a 3,600-square-foot expanded area that allows for a new second group exercise studio that will provide more opportunities for fitness classes. This will also take classes outside of the gym so that people who want to play basketball will have more hours.

Local families with younger children will no doubt be excited when the Magical Bridge Playground, an inclusive playground at Community Park, will open in the summer. They’ll discover a plethora of fun playtime equipment designed to be used by all kids, including children with physical and mental challenges.

Picnic reservations at local parks are opening again for families and groups to book time for outdoor gatherings.

Youths looking for fun and exciting jobs during the summer months should start applying now by visiting the city of Morgan Hill’s human resource department page and finding employment positions that are now open. The city’s recreation team is seeking enthusiastic, responsible teammates, Ghione said.

Lifeguards at the pools at the Aquatics Center and CRC are jobs the recreation department is especially in need of applicants, he said.

“It’s important that kids who want to be lifeguards look at that early. Right now if they don’t have lifeguard training, we are offering that training as it gets closer to summer (the beginning of May),” he said. “If they wait too long to apply they won’t get the training and then they won’t be able to work as a lifeguard. I know a lot of people want to do that job, so I encourage people who are interested in it to turn in their applications now and look into training.”

Positions are also available for the YMCA Kids Club Program Leaders program. Apply at www.ymcasv.org.

Ghione recommends Morgan Hill residents check the online summer activities guide frequently as more classes and programming will be added as COVID-19 restrictions are lessened, allowing for more recreation opportunities.

“It’s going to be an amazing summer. We’re hoping to bring back a little bit of normalcy,” he said. “I can tell people are excited about getting outside, and we have a lot of opportunities for recreation outside that are going to be great.”