Reality Store Teaches Life Lessons
The Reality Store returned to Stanley last week at the Mountrail County South Complex on Monday, Feb. 24. This year, the cooperative effort between the schools and NDSU Extension Service included offering the opportunity to eighth through tenth grade students in New Town, Parshall, Plaza, Powers Lake and Stanley. Each school has the ability to determine which of those grades they want to attend each year. New Town brought their ninth grade students. Parshall also had their ninth grade students. Plaza brought grades eight and ten. Powers Lake had grades nine and ten. Stanley had grades eight and ten attend.
The event brings community volunteers together with the students. It is designed to teach students about the importance of staying in school, how career choices affect their financial status, and the importance and benefits of budgeting. The Reality Store welcomes them to “the real world” as they are given a glimpse of their future. It helps them develop an awareness of basic financial skills and planning, decision making and career planning.
As they arrive at the Reality Store, students are given a handout with basic instructions. With their deductions and withholdings having already been figured out along with their salary, they first go to the bank to open their accounts and get started. They open a checking account and pick up a “register”. A savings account is optional.
From there, they can proceed to any of the other stations and take care of their business at each one. They might, however, find out they need to visit another station first. For example, before they go to utilities or insurance, they will probably have to visit housing and transportation first. If they run out of money or are close to running out, they need to visit the S.O.S. store. They are required to visit each station and complete their transactions before they return their forms to the check out location when they are done. They fill out a survey after they have visited all the stations to provide feedback to organizers.