When the season of winter finally rolls around, the Essex Steam train is filled with children, hot cocoa, and a bunch of Morgan spirit. This year 24 students from Morgan have signed up to participate in Morgan’s most popular winter job which sells around 80,000 tickets between November 15th and December 23rd.
Joining the Essex Steam Train has become a tradition every year for the upperclassmen of Morgan students. Senior Brenna Moore who worked on the train last year shared, “my friends convinced me to be an elf for the North Pole season.” It was natural to join, she explained, “we were all doing it together; it made it enjoyable and fun.”
Despite Essex being a 15-20 minute commute, the job is still favored by many students. Ms. Robinson, a fifth year performer, encourages students from The Morgan School to join, “I became friends with the gentleman who runs the hiring of the high school students, and we built a connection to try to gain performers who were trustworthy,” she shares.
With the season approaching, Ms. Robinson closed, “I don’t have any little kids at home anymore so it brings joy to me to relive the magic of the season with everybody else’s kids.”
For incoming first time teenagers, they have an option to be an elf or a sleep server, both objectives to make the children feel excited on the train. The difference being elves pass out the hot cocoa and are more energetic, while the sleep servers just walk with the hot cocoa, each with the same pay of minimum wage.
The job might sound simple, but there is a lot that goes into making the train run smoothly and lots of changes. For instance this year, they’ve added a whole other train. Ms. Robinson explained that “we’ve added more accessibility, including a fourth train because of the employees and the popularity it’s facing over the years.”
For first time workers, stepping into the role of an elf or server feels both exciting and a little awkward. New employees go through training for about two days, where they learn how to organize each train and get used to working in a costume while staying upbeat for the families and kids.
Community is a major part of this job. Students learn how to communicate quickly, especially on busy nights filled with excited parents and children. “On my first day I felt like an idiot, but everyone was embarrassed. We were all doing it together, so we made the best of it.” Brenna shared, Working with friends made it less intimidating and more enjoyable.
The Essex Steam train is a special job, not just about the decorations or pay, it’s the atmosphere and Christmas spirit that makes people feel like kids again. “One night it started snowing for the first time that year, and we all went outside and had a snowball fight,” Brenna explained, “It just felt like Christmas.”
