Students at the Lowndes County School District Career and Technology Center got a reality check Tuesday with the annual Reality Fair.
Each year Junior Auxiliary of Columbus visits the various LCSD schools to put on the reality fair that turns the game of Life into real life.
Students are given a monthly wage based on their GPAs, and from there they must navigate monthly costs many high school students don’t think about.
High school students with an A start out with $2,800 for the month, and students with a B are given $2,200. From there it continues to decrease, said Chase Hazard, reality fair chair for JA of Columbus.
Health science teacher Cheltsi Saucer said in the five years she has taught at the CTC, students are always amazed at how many expenses they have to pay monthly and it gives them a look into what life will be like after high school.
“After it’s over in years past, they just say, ‘That wasn’t enough money a month,’” Saucer said. “But I tell them that the ones who have the highest GPAs, their quota amount, that’s a little bit more than I bring home each month based on insurance and taxes. A lot of them, after hearing that, say they’re going to have to get a second job.”
Mandatory expenses the students must pay during the reality fair are ones such as housing, utilities, car payments, car insurance, gas, groceries, cable, internet and cellphone costs. After all of the basic payments are made, students must spin the wheel of chance which can cost students or can help students.
The wheel of chance includes expenses such as a doctor’s appointments, hiring a babysitter and having a flat tire, and it has revenue such as getting cash for a birthday, getting a tax return and finding $60 in a coat pocket.
At the very end, students visited the bank and financing table that allows them to go over what they have left to see about investing or saving.
Hazard said during the simulation students get to choose whether they want to live alone, what kind of car they want to have and what type of plans they would like to purchase when it comes to technology.
“They have to pick how they want to live,” Hazard said. “If they get a one bedroom, that’s going to be more expensive. If they want a two bedroom, it’s going to be a little less expensive, and they get to split utilities. … We have a wheel of chance at the very end, and depending on what they get, they might lose $150 or find $60. It’s good because it takes them around to the different stations and shows them what it costs to live.”
Amari Webber participated in the reality fair, and she said she wants to study to become a neurosurgeon. She told The Dispatch the activity is important to her because it helped her open her eyes to all of the expenses she will need to pay later in life.
“This is important because it’s showing us real-life things that we’re going to have to buy,” Webber said. “I didn’t even know we’d have to buy this much, and now I’m realizing I’m going to have to buy all of this. Being an adult is going to be difficult, especially with all of this.”
Webber’s classmate, Laylah Berry, a budding registered nurse, said it has helped her see the importance of budgeting.
“This gives us a view of the real world,” Berry said. “We’re actually going to have to save and budget because we won’t be relying on our parents once we grow up and get our own jobs.”
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