MARANA, Ariz. (KGUN) — While some young people are struggling to find work right now, the Town of Marana recently added jobs, many of which are filled by teens, with the opening of the Marana Aquatic and Recreation Center earlier this year.
The national unemployment rate for 16 to 24-year-olds in August was 10.5%, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, which is the highest since April 2021.
However, in Marana, Recreation Superintendent Brandon Laue said that at least 120 teens have found employment at the multi-million-dollar facility located at 13455 N. Marana Main St.
The center has been open for 130 days and is open 96 hours a week.
“We have over 10,000 members, and that came pretty quickly after opening our doors,” Laue said.
He said over the summer, the center averaged over 1,000 visits a day. Now heading into fall, that number is about 800.
The majority of teens are recreation aides and lifeguards.
Laue said recreation aides run front desk operations. “Rec aides also help provide programs – whether that be our successful summer camp program that we ran or existing sports that were running,” Laue said.
He went on to say that they have over 65 lifeguards. “That is a huge demand, especially in the summer months and the folks that usually apply for those positions are teenagers.”
This is their first job for many of the teens, like it was for Victoria Ruiz, who started working as a recreation aide at 16.
“I’ve done everything from sports camps to outdoor activities to, of course, now working here in the MARC,” said Ruiz, who has worked for the town for 10 years. “16-year-olds may think, ‘ooh, a job’s a little scary’, but here we mainly focus on having fun and that’s one of the things I mainly love about it.”
The MARC will have a hiring wave around mid-march.
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