About Us
County Impact Statements - Johnson County
High School students experience the cost of living on their own in
Reality Store workshop
High School students need decision making and money management skills to
prepare them to live on their own after they graduate. As part of the School to
Work program, eleventh grade students in Johnson County participated in the
Living on Your Own workshop.
Student comments from past workshops have included: "need to have hands-on
activities" and "more interaction with the students". As a result of the
evaluations, the Living on Your Own workshop was changed to an interactive
format called the Reality Store.
In March 2003, 298 eleventh grade students participated in the Living on Your
Own Reality Store workshop. Students completed a worksheet as they moved from
station to station to get information about the monthly income for their chosen
career and expenses for food, clothing, housing, transportation and other
expenses. At the last station, students spun a wheel for an unexpected expense.
Then they went to the "accounting help" station to determine whether they had
money left at the end of the month. Volunteers discussed choices and changes
they could make to meet their monthly expenses.
Following this year's program, student evaluation comments were: "It gave you
a hands-on experience about what may happen when we start to live on our own"
and "It actually gave us practice budgeting our money".
Volunteers provide students income information for their chosen career at
the Reality Store workshop |
Impacts
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