BRAZIL, Ind. (WTWO/WAWV) — Every year, a local middle school takes time to teach its 8th grade students critical thinking skills and budget management.
The Reality Store, at North Clay Middle School not only teaches their students important life lessons, but it’s also a tradition. This is the 32nd annual year for this store. The reality store is sponsored by the Clay Business Woman’s Club and has over 80 volunteers.
The students are first handed a checkbook and then enter different booths with scenarios. For this student, he learned an important lesson when he was 500 dollars in debt at the end of the store.
“I was doing good and then I thought I had enough and I bought a car, and other stuff comes up in life, and you just go down, I guess. Don’t spend stuff you don’t need,” said North Clay Middle School student Keegan Altepeter.
Though, before they even enter the reality store, they learn about it in the classroom, so they know what to expect. The school draws an occupation for them. They then receive their salary and make decisions about what lifestyle they can afford. Throughout the store they use their checkbook to budget and the goal is to have money left at the end.
“It is kind of special to us in the fact that it’s been a running tradition. A long-standing tradition and we really value the time from the community and the volunteers that show up,” said North Clay Middle School Guidance Counselor, Heather Palmer-Keys.
This Reality Store has only continued to grow throughout the years over at North Clay Middle School. There is a heavily push for schools to meet college and career readiness standards.
This has been a major factor in continuing the reality store .
