Still a student whose resume was a blank sheet of paper, I walked into work on my first day as an assistant leader at a children’s summer camp with no experience. I had no skills concerning supervising children or dealing with staff, and the first weeks were filled with my training by senior staff rather than me contributing to the program. I was hired as an investment in the hopes that at the end of training, I would be able to provide enough services that the camp would make a profit. With that investment, there was the risk that I would not be worth the minimum wage (which back then was around $7.25 an hour) I was being paid. Think about it – that is a high wage to pay a teenager who needs to be taught everything, starting with the fundamentals of showing up to work on time, especially when you are paying them to allow you to train them. If this is the case, should you be allowed to pay them less, at least until they can prove they can do their job? The government says no, through minimum wage legislation.