Get to Know the BDBF Attorneys – Our Best and Worst Summer Jobs

Summer is here!  Millions of high school and college kids around the country are taking on summer jobs.  Back in the day, BDBF attorneys were in that same summer job market—we weren’t always attorneys!  Here, we share our best and worst summer jobs.

Jeremy Rachlin

Best summer job— I spent five summers as the coach of a Montgomery County Swim League swim team—2 summers as an assistant coach and 3 summers as a head coach.  Anybody from the DMV knows just how seriously fun the summer swim season is around here.  I had the best tan I’ll ever have in my life.  And I learned never to dare a group of kids that if they win Divisionals they can shave your head.

Worst summer job— Shelving books at the Fairland Library.  I never knew a 5-hour shift could feel like 9 hours.  On the upside, I still know the Dewey decimal system way too well.

Jane Rodgers

Best (and worst) summer job— I was a camp counselor for an adventure camp. It was a lot of fun except for when we had to take a bunch of 7-year-olds tubing on the Potomac River after there had been a drought. Because the campers were so much lighter than the counselors, we had to paddle ourselves the entire way down the river as we struggled to keep up with the kids as they floated all over the place. And because the current was so low following the drought, I got my raft stuck on every large rock I went over.  Then, when we finally got to a part of the river with a current, I got flipped in a rapid and lost my shoe.

Dan Shaivitz

Best summer job— Tie between (1) coaching lacrosse camps after my senior year in college, which allowed me to travel up and down the east coast with my best friend to coach kids and to learn from some of the best coaches in the game; and (2) working as a lifeguard at community pools after my freshman year of college, which gave me lots of free time outside to work on my tan.

Worst summer job— Working in my father’s very busy dental practice after my senior year in high school.  I appreciated the opportunity to learn that I did not want to become a dentist, despite the importance of the work and the appreciation of my father’s clients who left with healthier, straighter, and more perfect smiles.  Author’s Note— Dan couched this last sentence with a request that his Father does not disinherit him.

Meg Rosan

Best summer job— I worked as a sailing instructor every summer in high school and college, everywhere from Hawaii to Maryland’s Eastern Shore. I still find time to get out on the water on weekends whenever possible.

Worst summer job— I tried waitressing to earn extra cash in the evenings.  I did not last long as a server.

Jared Sands

Best (and worst) summer job— Working at Emory baseball camp.  It’s the only time I’ve ever been paid to play sports.  But you give a group of 30 five-year-olds a baseball bat and you can only imagine the chaos that ensued.