Reality Town a Hit at Blessed Sacrament School

Intermountain Catholic

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SANDY — The middle school students at Blessed Sacrament Catholic School participated in the Reality Town two-hour simulation on April 28. Reality Town is an educational business program that was developed to teach students about budgeting, debt, fiscal responsibility and the importance of education. Reality Town was created by Jane Parker, a middle school business teacher. Since 1997, more than 100,000 students have participated in the R.E.A.L. curriculum.

Students at Blessed Sacrament Catholic School spent several weeks participating in the curriculum prior to the Reality Town simulation. The program was under the direction of Jennifer Vanderbeek, middle school teacher. There were five pre-simulation activities: 1) investigating career choices, work environment, salary, and educational requirements, 2) composing a personal resume, 3) completing and submitting a job application for their career of choice, 4) learning to write checks and to keep and balance a check register, and 5) designing and constructing signs for the booths.

Students had workbooks with different real-life scenarios to choose from. Some of the choices included having a spouse go to school and work part-time, having a spouse stay home rather than incur day care expenses, and how to transfer money from savings to checking and vice versa. The culminating experience was the Reality Town simulation that took place in the gym. Students visited over 25 different businesses manned by parent volunteers including housing, utilities, personal care, grocery store, and home improvement. Students began by recording their paycheck in the check register. They examined their personalized pay stub, including tax withholdings, chosen career, and the family scenario that was assigned to them.

Students then had to visit each business and make financial decisions based on their monthly salary. With each choice a check was written and recorded. Some students struggled making ends meet and had to visit the financial counseling booth, where they could apply for a second and sometimes third job. The Blessed Sacrament Reality Town even included a park area where Unified Police Officer Jeff West wrote "tickets" for loitering and littering. The benefit of Reality Town was that the students were able to experience firsthand how education, career choices, and life choices affect their daily lives.

Students will spend the next couple of weeks in post-simulation activities, including a lifestyle analysis. Students will examine their budget and lifestyle decisions. They will perform a debt versus savings analysis of their own budget and learn what can be done differently in the future. After the personal analysis, a discussion will be held with the students and they will share their learning experiences with their peers.

"Reality Town is a wonderful learning experience for the students in a fun and supportive environment," said Kristi Oritt, middle school language arts teacher.