With the government shutdown lasting 35 days, the effect on Memorial families were being felt. Seniors Chloe Conkling and Lorne Owens and their families were affected by the shutdown.

“My dad is now home all the time trying to stay busy and it’s unusual seeing him here all the time,” Conkling said.

Since Conkling’s father is normally always preoccupied with work for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and having been out of his job for so long, it has become an everyday occurance to see him around the house.

Owen’s father has been in a similar situation for this past month as well with being out of work.

“He has been doing a bunch of different jobs around our house and scheduling appointments to donate blood,” Owens said.

To pass the time, Owens and Conkling’s dads kept a close eye on the news.

“He watches the news a lot and knew that there was a probability for the government to be shut down,” Conkling said.

Government workers most likely knew they would be out of work, but didn’t think they’d be out for such a long time. Conkling’s mother is a public school teacher and they are living off her paycheck.

“We are currently living off of my mom’s paycheck which just isn’t enough,” Conkling said.

Also, the fact that both Conkling and Owens are applying to colleges takes large chunks of money out of their accounts.

“My mom is now focused on paying the bills when my dad is the one who normally makes the significant amount of money,” Conkling said.

With teacher salaries being the only thing providing for the family, wanting to delve into college visits, applications and other everyday luxuries is not as affordable as before.

Hopefully within the coming weeks, everything revolving around the government shutdown will go back to normal and be solved.

Contact Anna Baustert at [email protected]