N

From balancing a budget to buying a home, students at Coffee County’s Raider Academy were faced with making these decisions during the On my Own financial education program Thursday, March 21.

Given different life scenarios that include an occupation, income, martial and parental status, students were tasked with balancing life’s necessities such as food, shelter and transportation with things like concert tickets, expensive clothing and other non-essential items.

Raider Academy Principal Angela Sellars said the school partners with the UT Extension office and the Manchester Area Chamber of Commerce for the simulation.

“The Chamber provides us the volunteers that you are going to see help the students go through the simulation,” Sellars said. “The Ag Extension office, they provide the program itself.”

Sellars said every student participates in the annual program.

“They are provided a booklet with a life scenario and how much money they make and they have to take that amount of money, figure out what they have after taxes,” she said. “They are like what, we have to pay taxes?”

After determining their net income, students then have to purchase all the essentials needed for life as an adult. All the while, the volunteers operating the 12 different stations are trying to upsell them on things like cars and other costly items.

“It is real adulting and it is a real eye opener for them,” Sellars said.

The name of the game is to complete the simulation with a positive bank balance.

Brent Parsley of Capstar Bank was on hand to volunteer for the event.

“I want to help the kids,” he said. “I think we want to help them learn to save their money, spend their money reasonably, balance a budget for a month. That is the big thing.”

Parsley said students were required to open a savings account during the simulation, and one of the most common questions he received was if they could take money out of their account if they needed to.

“They want to know if they get short on money and stuff, can they take money out of their savings to help them shore up that month,” he said.

Over at the Major Moolah Mall station, student Dillon Bell said he was enjoying the day, but did not think he would end the day with a positive balance.

“I’m going broke,” he said. “I spent over $3,000 so far.”

Students Graham Collins and Cason Rabassa were trying to stay on budget by jointly purchasing a house together.

“I have a wife and no kids, so it is kind of simple because I don’t have to buy healthcare or anything like that,” Collins said.

Rabassa said he still needed to purchase a car after buying a house, but he did not think he could afford it.

Over at the Party Alley station, Misty Weaver of Vacation Countdown Travel said her job was to sell everything from birthday party packages to sports tickets and other luxuries.

“My job here is to upsell everything I can to really show them how that works in real life,” Weaver said.

In the days leading up to the simulation, Raider Academy students also welcomed guest speakers who spoke about personal finance as well as job interview skills.

“We had Brad Goodwin come on Tuesday and speak to them about personal finance issues, how to open a checking account, get a debit card, apply for a loan, those sorts of things,” Sellars said. “Then on Wednesday we had Alex Jones, who came and spoke to us. She works for the City of Murfreesboro in their HR department.”

Sellars said she believes the On My Own simulation is an important event for students to participate in, and might just give them some ideas when it comes to their future career choices.

“We feel like this is a pivotal point in their high school career because the decisions they make past ninth grade in registering really have an impact on the rest of their high school career,” she said. “They might find out I may need to go to tech school, I may need to get some type of post-secondary training to make more so I can live the kind of life I want, that is the point. That is the big picture point.”