While many high school students find summer jobs working for local amusement parks or at fast-food restaurants, Lily Nygren 17, of Scarborough, is deep in mud digging for clams.

“I’m the only one out here with polka dotted boots,” Nygren said with a laugh as she stomped through the mud along the banks of the nonesuch River in Scarborough in search of a good spot to start digging.

Nygren, who won her commercial shellfish license at the annual lottery at Scarborough Town Hall this spring, has only been clamming for a few months.

Nygren is following the footsteps of her two older brothers who are also clammers. She saves all her money for college.

“But I would like to get a boat” she said. “Our front yard is kind of starting to look like a marina. I don’t know if my mother would allow me to get a boat.”

The hardest part of the job? “Getting up early.”

And her favorite part of the job? “Sunrise and sunsets. You can’t beat it.”