High school graduates with financial literacy are better prepared for handling modern adult life’s challenges. That’s why local credit unions recently helped Aberdeen area high school juniors learn personal financial responsibility by using Great NorthWest Federal Credit Union’s Bite of Reality app.
The app walks students through simulated real-life experiences like living within their income and responding to unexpected expenses. Great NorthWest Federal Credit Union, TwinStar Credit Union and Our Community Credit Union staff volunteered their expertise to give students these essential personal finance skills during the annual Aberdeen High School Business Week.
“Students download the app and are assigned a budget,” explains Great NorthWest Federal Credit Union Marketing and Community Development Manager Karla Peterson. The app provides students with a credit score, occupation, income, spouse, child and debts. Students make expenditure decisions within a budget during the exercise. And as demonstrated in Aberdeen, some real-life prices startled the students. Adian Baker, a junior, says he was really surprised by the cost of day care. “It blew me away,” he says.
That’s the kind of firsthand lesson the app teaches. “You can go into Google and search ‘how to budget,’ but nothing really clicks unless you go through a simulation,” says Peterson.
Credit Unions Partner with High School in Personal Financial Education During Business Week
The Bite of Reality app is a product of the Richard Myles Johnson Foundation which supplies the app and needed materials free of cost exclusively to credit unions. The Bite of Reality exercise rolled out during Business Week when juniors take part in simulations and presentations to learn how the business world operates through role-playing as CEOs and other occupations. Students also experience how to manage their own personal financial decisions and see how those choices impact their lives.
Approximately 240 juniors from Aberdeen High School and Harbor Learning Center recently participated in the Bite of Reality exercise set up in a gym. Stations around the room included the credit unions’ staff, plus other business community volunteers helping students create and manage app-based expenditures for housing, food, child care, transportation, entertainment, clothing and more. Students stopped at the stations to make their expenditures and then checked with the credit unions for account questions. The app’s pie chart also assisted students in tracking their spending and remaining funds.
“We wanted students to have a better exposure to budgeting and financial education,” says Co-Superintendent and Career and Technical Education Director Lynn Green.
“It’s an amazing opportunity to partner with folks in the community and mentor students,” adds Green. Along with the credit unions, 75 volunteers from 17 companies worked with the students during the week’s business and industry simulations, financial decision making, and trade show.
In addition to teaching personal finance through the Bite of Reality app, Business Week demonstrates elements of running a business, like making and selling a product and building inventory, with students receiving assigned roles at the “companies.” “It really does show you what to do, and that marketing research really does help,” says student “CEO” Izzabella Dally.
Students Gain Insight into Credit Scores and Unexpected Personal Finance Events in ‘Bite of Reality’ Experience
Prior to the Bite of Reality exercise, Great NorthWest Federal Credit Union provided students with information on how credit scores affect loans, insurance, mortgages and credit cards. Then students use their assigned credit score in the app to see their score’s financial and practical impacts more easily.
The app also features a “Fickle Finger of Fate” randomly popping up during the simulation to create an unforeseen event such as an unbudgeted purchase of a wedding gift. These road bumps can present challenges requiring students to distinguish between wants and needs. For example, Peterson says a student wanting to buy a big house might see that they can afford only a medium sized house. “It’s sticker shock, for sure,” she explains. She adds that one student suddenly had to spend $180 to replace a cracked cell phone screen. Another student bought a luxury new car and promptly went into a negative income balance. Peterson says the app helped him learn that to live within his means he had to return the car and purchase a less expensive used vehicle.
Great NorthWest Federal Credit Union’s ‘Bite of Reality’ Financial Literacy App is a ‘Really Good Exercise’
High school graduates carry academic fundamentals into their adult lives, and they can also learn financial responsibility using the Bite of Reality app. As a high school junior, Baker confirms the app is a “really good exercise.” “It gives knowledge about real life and how to become an adult,” he says.
Great NorthWest Federal Credit Union
301 W. Wishkah St., Aberdeen
360.533.9990 (Inside Aberdeen area)
800.533.8396 (Outside Aberdeen area)
Sponsored
