Imagine being 12 or 13 years old, buying your first house and having a student loan. The students of Westside Preparatory Charter School became 28 year old taxpayers on February 19, 2009, in a unique exercise of real-world money management. Project Reality Check is an educational program sponsored by the Golden Bear Chapters of the AT&T Pioneers. 125 students in the seventh and eighth grade at Westside Preparatory Charter School located at 6691 Silverthorne Circle, Sacramento on the Frontier Elementary School campus worked for a week picking careers and getting information from parents on their household income in preparation for this day.
Students were brought into the school library to see where life would take them financially. There were nine stations that they visited. First stop, buy a house and then they moved to eight others areas that we all deal with every day: utilities, transportation, fuel, phone-internet, insurance, food and clothing, childcare and lastly student loans. The library was filled with students at these different areas figuring out just how much life was going to cost them. In talking to several students, I learned they were shocked at how much their parents spent every month. The largest area was childcare and the hundreds of dollars they had to spend on their kids every month.
Sarah, a future surgeon; and Alicia, a future veterinarian, both ages 13, were teamed up as roommates. They shared the cost of living, but were both floored by the house payment. When asked what they had learned from this experience, without hesitation they both said, ”not to waste money" and "learn to save”.
Next was Austin, age 13. He has decided to be a structural and civil engineer. “It’s a fun experience,” he stated. Austin was daunted by the food and clothing budget and exclaimed, “I will start saving NOW so I can make lots of money like Gene Simmons!”
Not only did students get to learn, but twelve parents enjoyed volunteering and are thankful for the education this will give these students for their future.
Project Reality Check is a three year old program of the AT&T Pioneers, all of whom volunteer their time and help communities and schools. Pioneer Volunteers are either active or retired AT&T employees and are not funded by AT&T, but rather get their own funding. Jim who has worked with AT&T for 30 years joined Pioneers when his kids got into high school. He thought it would be "a good way to volunteer in the community”. He volunteers from the Bakersfield chapter. The Sacramento Chapter is from Bakersfield to the Oregon border, this excludes the Bay Area, where they have a separate chapter. The next big event for the Pioneers is on April 4, when they will have an Easter egg hunt for hearing impaired children and their families. The volunteers have made special eggs with sounds on them and each child will receive a basket of goodies.
Emily, an OSP engineer with AT&T who helped head up Project Reality Check event, sent out 100 letters to schools, but only two applied for this free educational event. If this program would be accepted in schools, it would be a great benefit for students who will be the future adults in our nation and help them grab a hold of their financial future now.
The seventh and eighth grade students and the volunteer parents are glad that their math and science teacher, Sloane Green, applied for this event. "I’m hoping the kids will gain an understanding of how to budget their money, and that it’s not easy to come by.” says Green. “I want them to understand they must work hard for what they want. I also want them to come away from this with a greater understanding of what families are going through during these hard economic times.”
Perhaps this unique exercise will help and be a reminder to these students in the future that with money comes great responsibility; but that it can also be very rewarding.