GHS students participate in Reality Day
March 23, 2018
Economics students ranging from sophomores to seniors took on the second round of Reality Day this past Wednesday.
Students had the option to pick their career for this activity, keeping in mind that whatever salary the career made was what that person started with.
Each group of students arrived at different times and students who took it during the summer arrived right away from 8:00 to 8:50. Students who are currently taking it during the school year came at a later time.
Economics teachers Nicole Mobley feels that this is a great learning experience for kids.
“Students get a taste as to what it’s like to balance their finances based on a career they believe they’re going to have. All price are updated and not made up. Students get an outlook on what those prices look like,” Mobley said.
Some students struggled during the activity because they were running out of money.
“It kinda showed me how difficult it can get, especially if you don’t have enough money to spend on a monthly basis,” junior Riley Polasek said.
This activity was meant to guide students and give them an insight into what life is going to look like after high school.
“This experience opened my eyes by demonstrating the difficulty of making your own choices in a specific order and manner when you’re on your own,” sophomore Dominic Castro said. “It gave me a general idea of decisions that I will have to make in the future – sooner than most people think,” he said.
Students must take Economics to graduate, and one of the things they learn about is the importance of spending.
“Personal finance is supposed to teach them how to manage their money appropriately and also to get them to realize the importance of spending their money on things they need vs. things they want,” Mobley said.
Students realized this once they started running out of money.
“Reality Day made me think about what I really needed in life when I grow up, and so it was challenging in the way where I needed to spend my money on the things that were needed, not the things necessary wanted,” sophomore Seth Taylor said.
Most students found this activity really helpful.
“All in all, I appreciated this opportunity and am glad that I know some more things about what I should expect in my near future,” Castro said.