The Menifee County Cooperative Extension Service 4-H Agent hosted a financial simulation program, It’s Your Reality, for Menifee County Middle School students on March 29, 2018. It’s Your Reality introduced students to the "financial realities" associated with the adulthood--provision of food, clothing, shelter, etc. for a family and how these relate to career choices. Upon arrival at It’s Your Reality, students received the equivalent of one month's salary for a career. Careers were assigned based on GPA and school attendance. Participants went through each "store" purchasing housing, transportation, child care, etc.

Over 200 6^th, 7^th, and 8^th grade students participated in the program. By the end of the simulation, students better understood the correlation between career, lifestyle, and education. 100% of students had a better understanding on the importance of budgeting money, how to make wise financial choices, what it costs to maintain a household, and what it costs to raise a child.

The purpose of It’s Your Reality is to help students understand the impact of decisions made today or shortly after graduation on the course of their lives—decisions about educational paths, career options, lifetime mates and family living.