BOSTON (CBS) - There are three local teenagers who embody everything we want our kids to be. Why? They're working in jobs that may expose them to COVID-19, and they're working because they realize it's necessary.

"There's a risk going to work now," says Mary Grace Sicheri, "but knowing I'm helping people who need it ... if I don't go there's no one to help them." She's 17 and works in an assisted living facility.

"I'm proud she still wants to go to work," said Mary Grace's mother, Diane Sicheri. "I mean, of course, I worry; I'm her mom."

Eighteen-year-old Gianna DiPlatzi also works in an assisted living facility. "It's a good feeling. You have to do what you have to do to keep people healthy."

Sixteen-year-old Adam Dunnagan works at a supermarket in Holliston. Before the pandemic, shoppers scarcely noticed him. Not now. Now, they appreciate that he's there. "Yeah, there's a lot of people, like, 'Thank you so much for working during this time.'"

"Every time I drop him off, there's always a pit at the bottom of my stomach," said Adam's mother, Marci Dunnagan. "You know, am I doing the right thing as a mom?"

Three teenagers whose jobs may have been taken for granted two months ago. Now, they're considered frontline workers.