When the national government was shut down Oct. 1,  at least two West Shore students were greatly impacted. The parents of both Alicia Ortiz and Chris Mikulas are temporarily out of work due to the shut down.

“My mom’s in finance at Jacobs technology in Cape Canaveral,” Ortiz said. “She’s not getting paid at the moment, but she’s using this free time as her vacation hours.”

Both students said their parents aren’t worried because the government has shut down before and they know that it can’t and won’t be shut down forever. Still, both families face uncertainty.

“My dad is an electrical engineer at NASA,” Mikulas said. “He has been offered to go into work a couple days to receive pay, but he doesn’t know if he is going to take it.”

Eight-hundred thousand federal workers were furloughed when the federal government shut down, leaving their futures uncertain until the impasse in Congress is resolved.