In September at Sandusky Middle School, eighth grade students got a dose of reality when they participated in the school’s second annual Reality Check.
The Reality Check is a program run by Wanda Anthony, the Youth Team Leader for Goodwill Industries. She works with area businesses to generate volunteers to attend this event and give students a clear vision of how their life choices will impact them once they move out on their own.
The activity ties into SOL content as well as academic and career planning. The students will use this experience later in the year when they use the school’s newly added Naviance program.
Students have been preparing for this Reality Check since a week prior to the event. They chose their profession ahead of time and were given a pre-assessment to determine how much money they would be able to make. They chose their careers, whether they would go to college (in state or out of state), how big of a family they would have, etc. Then on the day of the fair, they lived out the lives of their future.
Tables were set up around the gym. Students started out at the bank to get their money, chose whether they wanted to rent or own, and looked at real properties, getting a true sense of the cost of living.
One student wanted to be a rapper, said Sarada Hester, the guidance director at SMS. But after learning what his net pay would be, receiving his monthly income and paying his rent, he was beginning to have reservations. He didn’t have enough left over for a car.
Another student wanted to have seven kids, but then came the shocking cost of daycare.
Eventually the students came across the Chance table. At this table they drew a card. Nobody, not even the event coordinators, knew what card they would draw. It was an unpredictable event that, like in real life, could make or break their situation. They had to learn to adapt. Sometimes it was a medical crisis, an injury, a loss of a job. Not all chance cards were bad, but for the most part, they brought about one setback or another for the students.
Finally, the students came across the Recreation table, and if anyone had money left by then, the entire crowd would cheer. Ms. Hester said in the second year doing this program, there were fewer kids in the red, but still, the majority came to the final station with a deficit.
Who were the most successful students? Computer programmers, civil engineers, and architects said Ms. Hester. They were the ones with the greatest income and least amount of student loans.
"These students really get it," says Ms. Anthony. "Once they stop getting it, I’ll stop doing it. But they really get it."
Paul Laurence Dunbar Middle School for Innovation will participate in the program in October, and Linkhorne Middle School students will have their opportunity in January.