Reality U takes turn at ELMS

Eighth grade students at East Laurens Middle School recently took a dose of reality.

Reality U, a Communities in Schools program, is a financial literacy program that teaches students the importance of going to school, earning a good living and being able to take care of themselves as adults. 

Before the May 8 event at ELMS, the only Reality U had been held locally was at Dublin High School.

“It has been amazing,” CIS Executive Director Jackie Pittman Curtis. “The eighth graders have really checked in to what is going on. I have had some feedback from teachers who have told me that the students are going back to class and saying, ‘Do you know how much child support I had to pay?’ or ‘Do you know how much I had to pay for this?’ They are really getting it, and it is sinking in.”

Curtis believes starting at the middle school level is a good idea.

“The sooner we can have them laying down this foundation, the better,” she said. “They are paying attention and retaining the information they are learning. We want to see that they are taking something away from this.” 

Prior to the event, the students completed a survey that helped determine where they would be when they were 26. The students also indicated if they were going to have children or be married. All of this was used to calculate life situations on the paper they received on the day of the event.

“The key factor to this is they have to put their GPA in,” Curtis said. “Their GPA determines what job and salary they receive. A low GPA, a low paying job. A high GPA, a high paying job. It is instilling in them before they go to high school the importance of working hard, making good grades and then they can go on and earn enough money in life so that you can take care of yourself in the manner that you want to be taken care of. A lot of them have said they want to do better because they can’t live like this. They want to be able to do things they want to do in life.” 

They take the paper with them to 12 stations: Housing; Clothes & Hair; Food; Student Loan; Transportation; Insurance; Child Care; Utilities; Phone & Fun; Emergency Fund & Investments; Unexpected Life Events; and Help I Need More Money. When they arrive at those stations, they are met by at least two volunteers who inform them of the decisions they will have to make.

At the unexpected life events is where the students roll the dice and find out something good or bad. Mostly, it is bad.

“I rolled the dice, and I got a ticket,” Curtis said. “Somebody else’s car broke down. Then sometimes I rolled it again and got a $150 rebate on my credit card. You never know when you are going to get a blessing, and you never know when something is going to happen. That’s life. They need to learn it early.

“We as parents tend to shelter our children a lot,” she added. “We don’t want them to experience things we have experience. I think this takes the veil off of the secrecy that we parents hold in the household. We need to teach and show them that we don’t want them to suffer. We want them to have lights and food and know where it’s coming from.” 

For those who receive children, they have to walk around with their baby doll. And this time, they cried.

“Some of them have been asking if someone can help them with their baby crying,” Curtis said. “They have to deal with it like it is real life. For the couples who are married, there have been some young men who have been a little emasculated because their wives make more money than them. It’s real life situations that they are learning now in the eighth grade that will hopefully prepare them in the future.” 

Eboni Cook, Reality U coordinator, said the ELMS eighth graders will have another chance at Reality U when they are in eleventh grade.

“They’ll get to experience life a little bit more, and when they get to 11th grade, they’ll do this again,” Cook said. “I will like for them to get a chance to compare and see what they did differently (in eleventh grade). Hopefully, they’ll be better prepared then and will be ready to walk into college.” 

Cook wished she had attended a Reality U program when she was younger.

“There’s a lot of adults who could use this too,” she said. “Life happens and you never know what will happen. We want the students to know that these are all factors that could happen.”

The program teaches the students to maybe look at the store brand instead of the name brand when it comes to making purchases.

“Stuff costs money,” Cook said. “The bills never stops. Here they are learning about car insurance and what makes it go up.” 

Cook likes watching the young people receive their baby and deal with issues such as childcare and feeding and caring for their child.

“They learn that when they have a baby, if they want to go out on a date, they have to pay for a baby sitter,” she said. “I love teaching the kids how to budget. I enjoy this a lot.” 

Reality U was also held at Dublin Middle School on Wednesday, May 13. The volunteers play a big part in this program, Curtis said.

“Scheduling is big because we need the volunteers to run the stations,” she said. “I think the volunteers enjoy this just as much as the kids. They are having fun. I’m glad to be once again go to the middle school because I believe it will give them more time to let it sink in. I enjoy hearing the kids say that now they understand what their parents do for them and the sacrifices they make.”