Miami County freshmen get a dose of reality

Apr. 19—PERU — Insurance. Taxes. Kids. A mortgage.

These are all things the average adult must grapple with, if not monthly, at least yearly.

On Wednesday, Zach Duke, a freshman at Maconaquah High School, found himself wrestling with the same issues.

Duke had selected architect as his career, which netted him about $5,000 in monthly income. That's not a bad chunk of change for a month.

But the expenses started to add up. There was housing. A roll of dice gave Duke two children. The tax booth was a wakeup call.

Duke started feeling the squeeze.

"I struggled around insurance time," he said. "I think the challenging part of it might have been kids."

Soon, Duke was looking for a second job. He got security guard.

At the end of the month, the freshman had about $1,000 left over and lessons learned.

"I think I'd budget myself better," Duke said.

His biggest take away, though?

"You shouldn't take for granted what your parents do," Duke said.

It's the kind of perspective Cindy Merrick hopes students take away from the Reality Store experience.

"We're trying to get them really understanding you might make a decent amount, but you'll have some coming out," said Merrick, director of the Career Development Center at Peru High School.

Reality Store is an event for freshmen in Miami County, where they learn about how much adult life costs and the importance of budgeting.

Freshmen first choose from a list of 70-some professions, which give them their monthly income.

Students are encouraged to pick a career they're interested in. Merrick said the exercise is meant to help them figure out if they want to follow a pathway related to that job field in high school.

Students also can pick whether they're married or not, which impacts how much they pay in taxes.

Madison Brimbury, a senior at Peru High School, helped man the tax booth. She said she got a lot of "Wow, that's a lot!" reactions.

"I don't think they realize how much of your money is taxes," she said.

Students rolled a die to determine how many kids they had. Depending on their age, it could add a child care expense.

It was child care and taxes that surprised Tori Malott, a North Miami freshman, the most. She chose psychiatry.

"That's what I want to do, and it pays good," she said.

There were also surprises for her friends, Macie Baverick and Emma Meives.

"How much money I got," Meives said.

"How much money I spent," Baverick said.

Baverick chose jeweler as her profession, but after having to get a second job, she reconsidered her choice.

"That is not what I'm going to do," she said.

And that's a perfectly fine thing to learn at the Reality Store.

"They're learning about their future," Merrick said. "They're learning about their lifestyle and if it needs to change."

Other students were content with their profession.

Claire Baines chose surgeon, which came with $15,000 in monthly pay. She had no issue paying her bills and having money left over.

Other expenses students had to budget for included insurance, medical expenses, electronics and vacations/cruises, if they had money left. If they struggled to pay their bill or ran out of money, they went to the second job table.

One booth was for unexpected life expenses. There were 39 possible options, selected at random. They ran the gambit of positive — win the lottery, pay raise at work — to negative, such as a DUI.

Reality Store has been held for years. New expenses have been added, such as for technology like smart phones and televisions, but the structure remains the same.

"As best as we can, we try to be accurate with the prices," Merrick said.

Merrick said there were years where students would pass on buying a phone. That's now a thing of the past.

Spencer Durham can be reached at 765-454-8598, by email at spencer.durham@kokomotribune.com or on Twitter at @Durham_KT.