On Friday, November 13th 2015, the entire 8th grade of Crown Point Community School Corporation participated in the annual Reality Store event at Colonel John Wheeler Middle School! The Reality Store is brought to us by the Crossroads Regional Chamber of Commerce, which hosts the event at various schools every year.
The 8th grade class begins preparations for the event in August. The students took an interest inventory through the Indiana Career Explorer website where they completed a questionnaire to find careers that most closely reflected their interests. They then chose a career to use when attending the event. The students also completed a lesson plan on how to complete a checkbook for budget monitoring. Shortly before the event, the students completed an online survey that asked questions about their beliefs on money management and how to handle real life situations. They also took a Post Survey after the Reality Store.
Each student is then given an individual "fake" paycheck with the career monthly salary of their choice with Federal and State taxes withheld. The net amount of their check also takes into account whether they decided to be married and/or have children. They also received a checkbook and savings account register. All students were asked to dress professionally as if they were going on a job interview. The students looked and dressed their parts flawlessly.
The students were then transported to Wheeler for the event. They then visited various booths to make purchases that they would make as 28 year old adults. The booths such as: Housing, Utilities, Clothing, Food, Transportation, etc. are run by the Chamber of Commerce business and local volunteers. The students had to budget their money as they made purchases. All students were required to visit the Reality Check booth to pick a "Surprise" life event. Those "surprise" events consisted of; losing one's job, having more children, getting arrested, etc.
The students then had to revisit some booths to make adjustments to their life according to what surprise event they received. Upon their return to regular classes, the students discussed their experiences and how they handled their situations and money. The students then took a post survey to document their reactions to The Reality Store.
The 8th grade was extremely well behaved, respectful and courteous at this event. The Reality Store always creates a buzz in our school before and after. Kids could not stop discussing what they bought, how much money they had left or what odd thing happened to them.
On behalf of the Crown Point Community School Corporation, we would like to express our sincere gratitude to all of the volunteers that made this event possible and memorable. We are equally as proud of all the hard work and effort of the 8th grade students and school staff that made this event so successful.