Reality Check In “The Reality Store”

High School students spent the day at Ohio University of Zanesville where many got a huge reality check.

As students entered into “The Reality Store” they were given a job based on their current interests and were awarded the correlating salary. With this information they were then given real life financial situations like buying a home and paying for groceries, and they had to budget their income accordingly.

“I think it really shows them how to budget their money because I think a lot of them don’t have any thought of what it costs today to live. You know, you get your paycheck and then when you have to take your taxes out and pay your housing and utilities and as they watch that balance go down, it’s really an eye-opener for them,” said Ohio Means Jobs Supervisor, Julie Metzger.

For most of the students the reality store program was a huge eye opener, and students learned that being successful takes hard work.

“I learned that to live out in the real world you have to be more experienced than you have to be when you live in the house with your mom,” said Foxfire High School student, Eric Henslee.

“The Reality Store” was not only educational for the students, it was a lot of fun as well.