Brown County Middle School students got a peek into adult life with the middle school tradition, the Reality Store Event, a week ago Thursday.
This event was brought back to the middle school after the last one that was in 2019 — the global pandemic.
The Reality Store is a real life simulation offered to seventh and eighth grade students. This event allows students to work with money and experience life events to learn the values of independence in adulthood, while also preparing them for the possibilities that life may hold.
Set up in the BCMS gym were booths with signs describing various life issues and necessities like health and wellness, insurance, banking and even voting.
Each student was given a salary based on their grades, a range of career options that also fit their GPA as well as attendance, and had to work with all the booths to create a well-endowed life with what they were given.
There was even a wheel of Life’s Unexpected Events where students took a spin and worked with what they were given, like winning the lottery or getting divorced.
This event is run by Regina Chadwick, who works with PNC Bank and maintains the sponsors of the event, and Kathryn Kabe who assists in planning for the Reality Store. They set up the event to make sure all students got an in-depth experience of what their futures may hold while also keeping a fun experience for students.
“Getting in front of the students in seventh and then again in eighth grade will help instill in them a better attitude toward learning, decision making, and planning for the future,” Chadwick said.
While this is a fun event for the students, the underlying goal is to show them the importance of how their efforts in school today will eventually have an impact on their lives, and to show them hard work and effort do pay off in the end.
“The reality is that their GPA is going to affect the colleges that they can qualify for,” added Chadwick.
Chadwick said she plans on continuing the event every November and February and making it a permanent part of the BCMS curriculum.
