This last Tuesday (February 15th) our Sophomores and the 8th grade students from the middle school got to experience Reality U. Below is a brief description of what Reality U. strives to do taken from their website.
"Reality U brings a bit of “reality” to students through a 75-minute interactive and engaging personal finance simulation. Students imagine their life as a 26-year-old and complete an online lifestyle survey. This information is entered into our trademarked software, along with their current GPA, to create a unique and individualized future scenario.
Each scenario includes the student’s monthly income, credit card debt, student loan information, as well as marital and family status. Students are given a checkbook register to track their monthly purchases from the 12 booths representing services and/or products that adults typically must purchase or consider each month. Sometimes they must return a “purchase” and make a different decision. The checkbook register can’t fall below zero!
This event actively engages students to help them understand the importance of how their performance in school today impacts their future. It also provides the community an opportunity to share in local students’ learning and developing an understanding of the world of work."
The 8th grade students came for the first session and the Sophomores got to attend the second session. None of this would have been possible without so many great people from our surrounding community volunteering their time and expertise to help our students learn and grow! I cannot say enough about how much we appreciate the support from the community to put on this event. Without our volunteers this event would not have been possible. It was exciting to see the interactions with our students and our community volunteers and watch the flow of knowledge!