Macks Creek School partnered with Central Bank to sponser The Reality Check event Tuesday, March 7th. Each student was assigned a career, with an income and students were asked to visit separate tables, where they had to "pay their bills." This included food, car payments, house payments, clothing, childcare and other necessities of life.
Pictured Mrs. Janke helps students pay for child care.
Pictured Coach Treat works with Vanessa and Makenna with paying student loans. In the careers students were randomly assigned they saw their income and whether or not they had a college degree from their career to see what they would be paying in student loan debt.
Pictured Mr. Jones helps students decide what expenses they would have monthly for entertainment and furniture. Most students were very conservative on their entertainment costs to afford every other bill they had when reaching the entertainment table.
Pictured Mr. Bothwell helps students look at how much their house payment or apartment rental costs each month. Students saw their gross income be cut enough with how expensive house payments and rent can be.
Students learned a lot about what life is like when you have to pay all the different kinds of expenses of life. If students ran out of money and were unable to pay their bills, they were allowed to get a second job to earn additional income. It was a very interactive experience and the students were very engaged.
Overall 67 Macks Creek students participated and the comments they made indicated that this event caused them to think and understand how important career choices are for their future.
Students were heard complaining about having to get a second job to pay for childcare, upset because they had to get clothes and haircuts and frustrated because their money disappeared so quickly.
The biggest shock for a lot of students was the high cost of childcare and insurance costs. Without a doubt this experience was a benefit to our students and their first experience in preparation for their own reality as they mature and graduate.
