She stands by the speaker as a flow of customers drive through. She presses the speaker as she begins to say, “Hello! My name is Sonia! Welcome to Sonic!”

Junior Sonia Esquivel spends much of her school week and sometimes weekends working at the local fast food restaurant.

Esquivel began working at Sonic after a family friend helped her get the job.

“I wanted a job and for my sixteenth birthday a family friend said that he’d help find me one,” Esquivel said. “I’ve been working there ever since.”

She plans to keep this job as a way to save money after high school.

“I really do enjoy working there; I like my coworker.” Esquivel said. “The pay is also pretty good so I plan to continue working at Sonic to save some money up for after high school.”

Esquivel sometimes works with a fellow classmate, junior Brenda Garcia.

“What I enjoy most about working at Sonic is being able to see familiar faces,” Esquivel said. “I really enjoy working shifts with some classmates like Brenda.”

In her free time, Esquivel enjoys her more artistic side.

“Sonia is actually a very good artist,” Breannali Dominguez said. “She won’t admit it herself, but her drawing ability is pretty good.”