Ready for 13 and 14-year-olds to start doing their own banking, paying utilities, deciding where to vacation and choosing if they want to vote?
Don’t worry, it’s just a simulation.
The Brown County Middle School Reality Store is back! Since the pandemic shut down the annual event in 2019, organizers of the Store are now excited to announce that it will kick back off this year with both seventh and eighth graders participating.
Regina Chadwick, Vice-President and Business Banking Center Manager of PNC Bank, who helps sponsor the Reality Store, took over the program from the Chamber of Commerce and organizes and recruits volunteers.
“This is an opportunity for students to experience financial responsibilities, and what their future may be like when they are 28 years old as well as how important it is to work hard to get good grades in school,” Chadwick said.
During the simulation, students have a salary to work with and must visit every booth that represents real-life decisions regarding how to use their money and plan for the future. There is a housing booth, an insurance booth, an auto booth, a cell phone / electronics booth and many more.
Chadwick said their salary is based on their grades and is assigned to them prior to the simulation through the choice of careers available to them within their grade point average.
Bruce Koopman, an eighth-grade math teacher at the Middle School who helps students prepare and figure out their finances prior to the Store, said there are about six levels based on the GPAs. Each level has about 20 to 25 jobs for the students to choose from.
“It’s a great experience for students as they are preparing for high school because that’s when preparing for college really begins,” said Koopman.
“That’s what the Store is all about,” Chadwick said. “We want to help reinforce that grades are important and they have to put in the effort to do their work to get better grades and therefore a better job in the simulation and real life.”
Koopman said they wanted to incorporate the seventh graders this year because if the students only get to do this one time before high school, they may miss out on some of the booths and valuable lessons they have to offer. He said it would be interesting to see how the seventh graders this year will approach it as eighth graders next year.
“I’m honestly not sure how many of the seventh graders know what a GPA is, and I think this will be their first dose of the reality of a GPA,” said Koopman. “Then hopefully they’re going to see this and say, ‘Hey I’m going to try a little bit harder next year because I would really like to do this job instead.”
Koopman also said many of the students struggle to understand how much everything costs, especially how expensive childcare is.
“I had a girl one year want to trade in her children,” said Chadwick, laughing. “She was like, ‘Can I not have kids?’ and I said nope you rolled the dice and that’s what life gave you, so you have to keep the kids.”
Chadwick said they also hope to teach the students how important it is to manage their money appropriately and save for retirement. She said it’s amazing to see the students put thought into their choices and end up with money to save at the end of the simulation.
“The hope is that students will realize that their grades can either help them get where they are trying to go or hinder their progress,” said Chadwick. “Teachers and parents both reported afterward that they had good conversations with the students about the experience.”
The Reality store will be held on Nov. 30 for seventh graders and Feb. 29 for the eighth. Chadwick is still looking for volunteers to help run booths and work with the students.
If you’re interested in volunteering, contact Chadwick at [email protected] to learn more!
